Children dance with dragons for Chinese New Year in Highgate

Children danced with a dragon as they rung in Chinese New Year at the weekend in the grounds of a historic house.

About 50 youngsters and their parents gathered at Highgate’s Lauderdale House in Waterlow Park for celebrations on Sunday.

To mark the start of the year of the sheep, sequins and glitter were used generously to decorate hand-crafted cardboard sheep inside the house, off Highgate Hill.

Families then headed out into the cold to dance with a colourful paper dragon on the lower terrace, according with Chinese tradition.

Lauderdale House director Katherine Ives said of the half-term family day event: “It was just a really fun thing to do, and finding out about another culture, which is great, in a really colourful and entertaining way.

“Everyone seemed to have a really lovely time, it was really sociable as these family day events are for kids to do with their parents.”