Your guide to Coventry and Warwickshire Christmas events

Coventry will not have a Christmas lights switch-on event this year, as the city is to again host a festive market and a "Festival of Christmas" instead.

So what can people expect to enjoy in the run up to the festivities in the city and across Warwickshire?

The Christmas market will open on Friday 13 November.

It will start trading at 17:00 GMT and the big wheel will be ready to ride, though the market will not operate on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Jon Hogan, city council head of events, said with Coventry's Festival of Christmas, "we've had a lot of positive response".

Having in the past been on a Wednesday, "to tie in with late-night shopping", Coventry's big event, now the festival, will be on Saturday 21 November, from 15:00 until 20:00.

Feedback was positive about last year's event, Hogan said, adding "you used to be able to stand for three hours in four degrees centigrade waiting for that five, four, three, two, one moment".

"What we find now is that people prefer to... move around at will, you're not fixed to the spot and there's something for everybody," he added.

In University Square, there will be a 12m (39ft)-tall inflatable arch and suspended underneath will be a Christmas fairy, an acrobat who twirls and somersaults up and down.

There will be fire performers and in the cathedral ruins, Father Christmas will be reading at the Festival of Christmas, which will operate in Hertford Street and Precinct.

"He'll be in the cathedral ruins on repetition [with] several shows, so no rush, there's plenty of room for everybody," Hogan said.

Around Broadgate there will be a "local arts company with the Elf Express perambulating around the outside of Broadgate with mischievous elves causing mayhem".

There will be giant snow globes, with - "back by popular demand - a snow queen inside a large human-sized globe.

"It's a passive piece of entertainment. It's not noisy. So for those with sensory needs, it's a lovely space outside the council house," Hogan added.

The Festival of Christmas, which all takes place outdoors, is free.

"So you might have your bus fare or your parking to pay, but all the entertainment is free," the head of events said.

He added money could be spent in the hospitality businesses or the market stalls.

When the market begins the lights will be on, with the illuminations increased "once we've got past the Blitz anniversary" in the city of 14 November, Hogan said.

"Once we've commemorated that anniversary, we'll put all the lights on and you'll see them, of course, because they'll be on during the daytime and as it gets darker, they become more and more apparent," he added.

• Lights will go on in Stratford-upon-Avon on 14 November
• This will be followed by Leamington Spa's event on 15 November from 10:00 until 18:00 with entertainment, food stalls, music and a Christmas market
• Rugby's lights switch-on will take place on 21 November, when there will be live music, from 15:00 until 20:00, while at Rugby School a ticketed drone show will be held between 17:00 and 19:00
• The lights will be switched on on the same day in Bedworth, from 10:00 to 19:30, including more than 50 craft stalls, food and a funfair
• The Warwick Victorian evening will take place on 26 November
• Kenilworth will be lit up on 27 November from 17:00 until 20:00
• Nuneaton's event is also on that Friday night
• The traditional Atherstone Dickens event will be on 28 November with a parade starting at 13:45 and the switch-on and fireworks at 17:15
• Southam has been scheduled for 29 November, including a funfair
• There will be a Christmas lights trail in Wolston on various dates in November and December

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