Tower Bridge at Christmas

Snow is falling on the South Bank and Tower Bridge is lit up behind a crowd of families, couples, and dog walkers making their way along the riverside path. Lamp posts are wrapped in Christmas wreaths with red bows, pigeons scatter underfoot, and a Jack Russell on a lead is doing its best to pull ahead. A red double-decker bus crosses the bridge in the background, just visible through the blue-white glow of the floodlights.

Richard Macneil fills the scene with small, believable details: a toddler in a brown coat holding a parent's hand, a child on a sledge, a woman juggling Christmas shopping bags on the right. The figures are all seen from behind, which gives the whole thing a "you are there" quality rather than feeling posed.

As a build, it's a satisfying challenge. The illuminated bridge has some lovely mid-tone complexity, and the snow-covered ground in the foreground shares similar cool purples and whites with the sky, so you'll be leaning on the figures and the warm lamp-post glow to anchor your sections. 1000 pieces, from Gibsons.