“It’s already made our Christmas, we felt so Christmassy that we put our tree up and decorated it the next day - and it’s still November!”

That’s the powerful effect of the magic conjured by The Eden Project on by its new Christmas programme on Bridget Avery and her three daughters.

The young family went to the launch of Shadows and Light, a spectacular installation of mesmerising displays of colour, light and music along the walkway into the former quarry, inside the Rainforest and Mediterranean Biomes and throughout the outdoor gardens.

“The girls were absolutely gobsmacked, and so was I. There were so many lights and colours everywhere we looked.”

International light and sound installation artists have created this spell of lights, shadows and soundscapes.

To complete the fairytale, there is also a very special visitor in residence until Christmas Eve when duty calls him away from his Cornwall paradise.

Father Christmas and his elves have set up camp, bunk beds and all. It’s a job for him to get them to stop chatting to visitors and concentrate on making gifts but he’s managing to cajole them, as Bridget’s girls discovered.

Bridget’s three girls are 11, 10 and 7. Elves invited them into the cosy tent that the North Pole family are calling home until Christmas Eve.

The sleigh is carefully housed, there’s a roaring fire, a map of the world on the wall, the all important postbox and a big empty chair.

When the man in red made his grand entrance, the gathered children erupted into excited cries of “He’s here! He’s here!” and Bridget’s youngest, for one, needed no convincing that this was the man himself.

Eden has created something equally as mesmerising across the site for all ages and abilities.

A moving kaleidoscope of colour created by Renegade and Silent Studios is projected across the lush slopes of the outdoor gardens. Dancing columns of light and colour created by Illumaphonium, line the route with Big Bang Brass performing classic Christmas hits.

In the Rainforest Biome Renegade and Silent Studios have created ‘Echoes’ The Weather-Makers, showing different tropical zones of colour and light based on real-time dynamic weather patterns in rainforests around the world.

The Biome is filled with transient light, mist, haze and a choral soundscape, all of which mimic the weather conditions of precipitation, temperature, humidity, wind speed and cloud cover.

Each person that visits this magical event will find their own favourite. It’s festive and it’s a chance to treat the child in you.

Shadows and Light takes place 5pm - 8pm on November 30 and December 1, 2, 7 to 9, 14 to 23 and 27 to 30.

It’s free with Eden admission with no booking required.

Due to high demand, visits to Father Christmas need to be booked beforehand through edenproject.com.

Adding to the magic is the ice rink, open until February 24.