Wentworth Woodhouse Christmas crew has been busy all year prepping its home-grown ‘Night Before Christmas’ festive extravaganza
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So begins the much-loved children’s Christmas poem, A Visit From St Nicholas, composed in 1822.
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Hide AdBut at Rotherham’s Stately home Wentworth Woodhouse, plenty has been stirring for over 10 months, in readiness for its home-spun festive event inspired by the story.
Its visitor-led Yuletide experience ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas launches on December 4. It runs until December 29 (excluding Mondays and statutory holidays), along with a spectacular light trail in the West Front Gardens, which opens on December 4.
The familiar story of St Nicholas’s arrival unfolds for visitors in the mansion’s State Rooms.
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Hide AdThe State Corridor will be transformed into a snowy tundra and the Van Dyck Room will become a Christmas Eve bedroom scene, complete with a beautifully dressed antique bed.
Other rooms will feature a gift-laden Christmas morning scene and a Victorian Christmas feast.
A trail of smartly-dressed character mice, plus gingerbread men, toy soldiers and sugar plum fairies awaits. And the Christmas stockings - all six feet of them - will be hung by the Whistlejacket and Statuary Room chimneys with care, exactly as Georgian poet Clement Clarke Moore described in the poem he penned for his children.
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Hide AdThe most stunning scene will take up the mansion’s famed Marble Saloon. A giant Nordic sleigh will stand in a moonlight forest beneath a starry sky. Families can climb aboard the sleigh for a magical festive selfie.
This will be Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust’s second ‘home-spun’ festive spectacular. 2023’s event, A Tale As Old As Time, was inspired by classic fairytales.. Over 16,000 visitors flocked to see the Grade I Listed mansion in an enchanted slumber.
It was such a resounding success that in January its creative directors, Head Gardener Scott Jamieson and Events Manager Helen Flower, re-assembled their 12-strong workforce to start planning Christmas 2024.
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Hide AdSaid Helen: “The Christmas event is the Trust’s biggest financial commitment of the year and great effort goes into making it truly spectacular.
“Many stately homes have far bigger pockets than we have and can afford to hire external companies and all the props and scenery required. At Wentworth Woodhouse, we always make every penny count and harnessing the amazing talent of our volunteer and staff teams means we can really make the most of our budget.”
There’s another huge benefit to staging a ‘home-grown’ event, adds Helen: “It becomes truly special and unique to us, and it gives our staff and volunteers the opportunity to let their creative talents shine.
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Hide Ad“I’m eternally amazed by them. You don’t realise until you start doing something like this, how talented they are. Last year, the skills and ideas, determination and hard work they put in was phenomenal.
“Planning the event brings people together, too. We work really closely through the whole process. It becomes a Christmas factory, with a lovely camaraderie.”
‘Twas The Night Before Christmas will see Scott Jamieson, a former florist who for many years has dressed the house for Christmas, raiding his gardens to create stunning indoor settings and enlisting his army of gardening volunteers.
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Hide AdNeil Power, who began as a Trust volunteer and is now an Events and Filming Officer, is in charge of construction - everything from scenery and toy soldiers to Victorian-style lamp posts. “Neil was a psychiatric nurse and has absolutely found a new calling in life,” said Helen.
Volunteers bringing a wide range of skills to the festive table include Julie Vickers, who is drawing on a background in textiles to create a mouse trail for children, and is embroidering coverlets for the bedroom scene. Victoria Nowell is carefully stitching the giant Christmas stockings and Robin Linkens is creating illuminated ballerinas for a sugar plum dream scene.
The ‘home-grown’ festive event is green, too. Where possible scenery and props will all be made from up-cycled and donated materials, many of which were left behind by production crews after filming their TV and movie scenes at the mansion.
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Hide AdThe Christmas crew must have its tasks completed by November 25, when the week-long task of staging the entire event begins.
“We will be launching the event on December 4 and it’s going to be tight,” said Helen. “A small army of volunteers will roll up to help - it will be all hands on deck, but we know we can do it.
“We have all the ingredients; inspired and talented people willing to go above and beyond, lots of creativity and the belief that we can pull it off.”
- The Light Trail, transforming a new route through the West Front gardens into a magical display of twinkling lights, runs from Wednesday December 4 to Sunday December 29 and is fully accessible.
TICKET PRICES:
Combined tickets for ‘Twas was the Night Before Christmas and Light Trail (includes booking fees):
Adult (17+) £25
Child (3-16) £19
Family (2 adults & 2 children) £80
Accompanying carers and infants aged 2 & under - free
Tickets for Light Trail only or 'Twas The Night Before Christmas only (includes booking fees):
Adult (17+) £20
Child (3-16) £14
Family (2 adults &; 2 children) £55