The Ivy Chelsea Garden Is Now A Chic Gingerbread Mansion

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There’s Christmas decorations, then there’s London’s Christmas decorations. The English capital has really turned things out this year with Oxford Street’s iconic lights, Christmas events galore and Covent Garden putting up a Christmas tree that you can hardly fit in a photograph. It’s not just the big tourist destinations that have been totally transformed as there’s one spot which is attracting a ton of attention, for all the right reasons. If you’ve been on Instagram recently, you may have noticed all your favourite influencers and pals have been snapping pictures outside what looks like an extravagant gingerbread mansion. And we finally know where it actually is.

It turns out that it’s actually an installation at The Ivy Chelsea Garden, a swanky restaurant over on King’s Road. They explained that it’s decorated with “colourful sweets, rock candy and a gingerbread roof” and TBH if this is what that witch’s house looked like, we totally get why Hansel and Gretel stepped in to say hello.

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It’s not just the ultimate Instagram opp, as if you drop by you’ll also be able to snag sweet treats for yourself. If you look a little closely, there’s a set of little red boxes you can reach into to pull out treats like candy canes and bon bons. That’s enough reason to drop by in our opinion.

It turns out that it’s been a long labour of love as Pedro Carvalho, The Ivy Chelsea Garden’s general manager, said, “We’ve been planning our Gingerbread House installation for quite a few months and we’re very excited to bring some Christmas cheer to the King’s Road. We hope our guests like the installation as much as we do and we’ll be fully encouraging passers-by to enjoy sweet treats from within the Gingerbread House’s windows.”

If you decide you do want to check out The Ivy (and you absolutely should), they’ve also made a special cocktail themed after their decor. It’s called the Gingerbread Espresso Martini and it brings together espresso, gingerbread syrup, Wyborowa Vodka and Bepi Tosolini Expre liqueur for a delish sounding cocktail.

The installation is lasting through to the end of 2018 and they’ll be packing it all up on January 1, 2019. If there was ever an excuse to go for brunch with your pals next weekend, this is it.

Megan is a freelance journalist who covers entertainment and all things lifestyle, with a particular passion for fashion, beauty, travel and Keanu Reeves stories. She has previously worked on staff for titles including Marie Claire UK, CNN Style and The Evening Standard and has written for titles such as Bustle UK, Wallpaper*, Forbes and Hong Kong Tatler. She splits her time between London and her hometown Hong Kong, where she currently lives with the love of her life - an elderly dog named Poppy - and her husband.