A privately owned home in the town of Bücken, Germany is attracting visitors because more than 400,000 twinkling lights adorn the house, garden, trees and fences.

Resident Rolf Vogt's land became a well-known site for tourists in the festive season after he gained inspiration from a trip to America 15 years ago.

“The idea comes from the year 1999. We were in America in December with our son and spent a whole night going round -- about eight hours -- and looked at the houses," Vogt told Reuters.

“There was one more beautiful than the others, and from that came the idea to go straight to Wal-Mart. We packed two travel bags full of lights and came back."

Despite beginning with far fewer lights, visitors started seeking out the “Christmas house” from its very inception, even though Vogt said the family had originally only put up the display for their own pleasure.

“One evening my youngest came down and said, 'Daddy, go out, there are 10 cars at the door.' I go out and wonder what's going on here. 'Hello, oh, it looks so good,' and so on and so forth, and then they keep saying, 'Is there bratwurst and mulled wine here?'

“I say: 'Goodness, yes'. We had only made it for ourselves the first time round. But the idea was already there to make it 5,000 lights for the second year,” he said.

Distributing the wine and sausages goes some way toward funding the lights for Vogt and family, who pay thousands of euros to keep the place aglow.

Between the illuminated Santas, stars and snowflakes, Vogt says he has lost count of the actual number of lights.

'Can't count them anymore'

“Around 450,000, maybe a few more, a few less. So I don't know exactly, because I've only got the giant mountain [of lights], you can't count them any more,” he said.

But for the family, Vogt added, the display is not just a Christmas project but occupies them year-round.

“I start at the end of July, cutting down all the shrubs and the lilacs and I gradually begin to display the first things. And then it always takes time for me to find the beginning, how I imagine it now, because people want to see it different every year, and when I have the beginning, then it continues bit by bit, then the thoughts of how I build it come together,” he said.

Their efforts make the most of the long nights in winter by switching on at 5 p.m. every evening until 9 p.m. from late November until late December.