Christmas Lights

For us Christmas and New Year is a busy season with lots of time spent with family and friends, and this year is no exception. While that is lovely, it does mean that we are mostly indoors, eating and drinking too much and not moving enough. As we are members of the National Trust we take advantage of that to visit Waddesdon Manor during this Christmas season, and this year and last we booked to visit between Christmas and New Year rather than before Christmas. In theory (though I'm not sure it is true in practice!) it is less busy after December 25th, and it is lovely to have something arranged that makes sure we get outside.

Waddesdon is a spectacular stately home in the Buckinghamshire countryside built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the late 19th century to display his art collections, now owned by the National Trust. In recent years it has become a very popular place to visit at Christmas, with spectacular themed decorations inside, a musical light show, a winter light trail, a Christmas market, and various other festive tweaks. It is so popular that bookings for the house sell out some time in advance.

Our house visit slot was for 3.30pm, nicely timed so that it was light when we arrived but dark by the time we left the house. This year the theme was Christmas music. Here is a partridge in a pear tree, with a goose-a-laying above it. I think there may be a lord-a-leaping in there somewhere too.

Not so easy to see, but the three serving dishes in the centre of this table are the three ships a-sailing in.

The Nutcracker themed room was one of my favourites. This one is a smaller dining room / breakfast room with a very unusual light fitting made from broken white crockery. To go with the theme the table had been given a centre piece made of ballet shoes.

Back outside we walked down to the stables cafe for hot drinks and cake, which we ate and drank supervised by a zebra. 

We finished our trip by heading back up to the house to watch the light show, then walked the light trail round the grounds.

This is one of my favourite things about Waddesdon at Christmas. I just love the effect of the coloured lights illuminating the trees.

One of our newer Christmas traditions, but definitely one I hope to keep up in future.