Did you know that every year, in the North East of Hampshire, a charming village transforms into a winter wonderland?

Hartley Wintney’s snow windows have taken over the high street for many years bringing this corner of the county alive with festive spirit.

Most of the village shops have joined in with this seasonal annual tradition that attracts people to visit every year.

Here’s your guide to everything you need to know about the snow windows…

Location

📍 High Street, Hartley Wintney, Hook, Hampshire, RG27 8NW

Hartley Wintney really is tiny and there’s only really one street in the village, which is where you’ll find these windows.

Finding it isn’t difficult and once you’ve reached the village it’s most likely you’re already on the high street.

But, you are in the North East of the county and this is where the internet goes to die, so make sure you have you sat nav or Google Maps set before your journey.

Parking is relatively easy, there’s either on street parking or multiple side roads.

While the village itself is incredibly cute there’s not much to do there, so you’re most likely going to want to combine a visit with another trip in this direction. Or, a nice pub lunch!

Winter tradition

I’m not exactly sure when the Hartley Wintney snow window tradition started. If anyone knows, drop me a comment in this post.

The first time I found out about the village’s festive decorations was 2020. Thankfully, the snow windows have returned every year and I finally made it up for the first time in December 2022. And, now I try and nip up every December to get a good dose of Christmas magic.

Snow windows

Hartley Wintney’s snow windows, and all of them since 2020, I believe have been created by Snow Windows. I spotted the logo in each window’s corner during my visit and it’s confirmed on the Snow Windows Instagram page.

This company was founded by Keri Ackling in 2015 and designs and artwork executed by principle artist Tom Baker. Since then they’ve done windows for Penguin Random House, Radio X, Harvey Nichols and more.

The art work is wildly impressive, beautiful and captures that magic that conjures up all those festive feelings we hunt for each year.

Visit Hartley Wintney’s winter windows

Here’s a detailed look at Hartley Wintney’s 2022 snow windows, so if you don’t manage to visit you can see just how amazing they are.

Hello Santa sausage dog at the Barbers, this is one of my favourites highlighting the skills and artistry by Snow Windows.

The Sweet Shop has a fantastically detailed window of The Snowman flying with the little boy. It’s so amazing, I couldn’t believe it someone could create it with cans of snow spray.

Wallace and Gromit make an appearance at The Hartley Clinic and beautiful dresses appear in snow globes at Boo. These were the first windows I saw and they were a sign of the what was to come!

The Snowman flies over William Dyer and CG’s goose logo gets a wintry window make over.

Don’t forget to look up, especially at Kenwood House where a snowman is waving hello to all passersby. I nearly missed this one and it was bitterly cold so I didn’t walk the rest of the street to see if there were any more.

Keep exploring

The street is quite long, so make sure you walk to both ends. Take care crossing the road at night too as it’s a very busy road and it can get quite dark.

The fireplace and McCarthy Holden has a well placed screen that loops through properties and also a roaring log fire to complete the scene. And, the penguins nestled in the door of Mimi’s are exceptionally cute too.

Village Gossip is home to Santa having a trim before Christmas Eve and jewellery is displayed in among a snow scape at Greenwood Goldsmiths.

The butchers has a magnificent stag and the wine shop a Santa who’s left his sleigh and reindeers to deliver presents, or pick up a tipple from the shop!

Polar bears play along the edge of Hartley Wintney Barbers and the fish and chip shop is home to a log cabin snow scape.

At Rural Fringe Hair Salon you’ll spot a snow globe with a Home Alone scene inside of it (look closely!) and two snow people are catching up at Cuppies.

Explore the wintry windows

Hartley Wintney’s snow windows are really spectacular and something a little bit different and free to do this festive season. It’s been one of my favourite things to do this December and I’m definitely going to make sure I plan a yearly visit.

The windows are on display at different times each year, and the most up to date information about when they are on display can be found on the village’s Instagram page.

This charming village has a cafe and a few nice shops to have a look around.

If you’re not able to visit I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and if you do plan on visiting, I hope the information has been useful.

Let me know what you think or if you managed a visit in the comments below.

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