If you’ve been here for a while, you might know that every year I like to drag my parents (or at least one of them) to a Christmas light trail in late November, to get us into the festive mood. This has been a tradition that has emerged over the last couple of years, so it only felt right to continue with it this and where better to go than the home of Mr Darcy himself (in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, anyway): Chatsworth House. I’ve actually been to Chatsworth once before, a good few years ago now, but I’ve never been at Christmas, so I was really excited to go and see it in all its festive glory!

In the past, we’ve had great luck with our festive trips: the weather’s been good, things haven’t been overly busy— you know, all the important things. Unfortunately, 2024 decided to humble us, because our trip this year was very soggy and very busy. Welcome to a Great British Christmas, ladies and gentlemen! Also, it turns out Christmas at Chatsworth isn’t really a light trail— there are some lights and there is a projection display on the facade of the house itself, but, really, the main attractions are the Christmas Market and the decorated interiors of the house.

Anyway, despite the rain, the crowds and my ever-fading willingness to take my hands out of my pockets to brave getting my phone out, I did take a few pictures of the experience, so I thought I’d share them with you, to bring a little bit of festive opulence to your screens! Here, then, are my Postcards from Christmas at Chatsworth 2024…

There were displays cases inside the house that were filled with antique baking equipment, used at Chatsworth over the years. Of course, this was very exciting to me.

I particularly liked the copper jelly moulds and mussel shaped chocolate moulds!

There was also this absolutely massive (truly— it was the height of a small child) geode. Not overly festive, but very shiny!

Again, not particularly festive, but the classicist in me was very excited by this bronze copy of Schwanthaler’s Shield of Hercules.

This was the big tree in the main hallway (which is actually not as big as it looks in Pride and Prejudice— they must do some sort of perspective magic in the film, because the shots taken in this exact hallway always make it look so huge and airy!).

I was very excited by the gummy bear ornaments on this particular tree— there was a whole rainbow of them (though I only managed to snap a photo of the orange one), and they had this perfect, sugared look. I also very much enjoyed the carrot ornaments, but that I think that might just be the Jannik Sinner fan in me.

I loved the little copper ball string lights on this tree— they remind me of little lanterns and bring such warmth to an otherwise pretty cool-toned colour scheme!

Ah, now we come to one of my favourite parts: the tale of a wreath mouse and his mince pies, told along one of the corridors of the house. First, we have the festive mouse, happy, but hungry.

Then, the mouse has found a mince pie and is even happier.

Then, the mouse has hit the mince pie jackpot and is making a break for it.

Okay, okay. I realise these are probably supposed to be three separate mice (based on the fact they’re all wearing different outfits), but I think it’s much more entertaining to imagine it as one mouse on a quest for festive snacks, disguising himself each time to go back to the buffet for extra helpings (very relatable behaviour from the mouse).

This was my mum’s favourite tree, when we showed her the photos. I like to think that’s a touch of lingering nostalgia from the time I became obsessed with having a copper colour scheme at Christmas and convinced her to buy a whole new set of baubles (which I promise, we still use!). Ah, good times.

This long study was roped off, so you couldn’t enter it, but the doors were left open so you could see it all festively decorated. This was my dad’s favourite room in the house, and I like the way it seems to stretch out for miles. I figure even working at Christmastime would be quite nice, if this was your office!

Then, we came to the iconic Veiled Vestal statue by Raffaelle Monti. This statue features in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film, and is a particular favourite of my mum, so I made sure to take a photo to show her! This had moved from the last time I was at Chatsworth— it now stands (kneels?) in an alcove all of its own! This statue is so famous that the gift shop actually sells miniature busts of it, but they’ll set you back £130 🙁 …

“Gemma, why have you taken a photo of a ceiling?”

I know, I know, but a) this ceiling is a beautiful ceiling and b) it reminds me SO much of the African flower crochet blankets! I’m thinking this ceiling could be a great form of inspiration for a new crochet blanket, so I’m stashing this one away under Potential Future Projects…

This room was, admittedly, a little odd, because it was filled with lots of very obviously fake food… Not that I’d expect them to leave real food out for two months, but… the fake turkey does kind of freak me out. I am, however, a BIG fan of the mince pie tower: I think this would be a great idea for a Christmas party/event. It reminds me a little of a Scandinavian kransekake, only made up of mince pies, instead.

There was also a ‘gingerbread’ version of the house itself, which I felt very inspired by (but also, I felt they could have gone a little further with it! Give me some opulence! Some drama! Some… actual gingerbread?).

Next up was the iconic Sculpture Gallery (as seen in Pride and Prejudice, too!). I thought the monochrome, paper decorations in here really suited the room, while still feeling festive.

Finally, we came to the gift shop, where I found the iconic Mr Darcy/Matthew MacFadyen statue from Pride and Prejudice. The sign below reads ‘Please do not kiss!’, which is equal parts funny and concerning…

Had to give you all the angles— how bewitching.

And those are the postcards from inside the house! I don’t have a ton of photos from outside, because the Christmas market was absolutely HEAVING and the rain made it difficult to take photos in the gardens (which are lovely), but I did snap a couple, if you’ll forgive the grey skies…

The facade of the house (though I think it’s really the back, even though it looks like it should be the front, so I guess that means it’s not a facade…?). Can you spot the balcony where Elizabeth and Darcy had that really awkward chat when he caught her hanging around his house? What an iconic (super cringey) moment.

This is the same side of the building, later on in the day during the projection display.

So that was our very soggy, very busy, but very Pride and Prejudice-inspired, festive trip to Chatsworth. A month later, I think I’ve finally dried out again.

Gemma

xxx

Getting the Christmas tree is something I look forward to every year- it feels like such a wholesome and festive activity. I don’t often make posts in the ‘Away From Home’ category (largely because I am rarely actually away from home), so it’s super weird that I’ve posted two in the past week. I swear, I’m still very much a homebody!

Anyway, I took some photos from our trip to get the Christmas tree and I thought it would be fun to share them here. Let’s get a tree, shall we?

The place where we’ve been getting our tree for the past few years is actually a café/farm shop, so, of course, we went early and had breakfast before we so much as looked at a single tree. What can I say? We have our priorities in order. I had this breakfast bap- with sausages and a hash brown, which I had for the first time last Christmas and have dreamt about since. Can confirm, it was as good as I remembered. The addition of a hash brown continues to be life-changing.

Next we went into the farm shop, which was decorated very festively and had lots of seasonal snacks on offer. I was, however, talked down from buying a large quantity of goose fat- this was fair enough (it was rather expensive), but I, with my love for super crispy (practically fried) roast potatoes, took it pretty hard.

Finally! We get to the trees! Unfortunately… they were all a little… strange? It was a pretty limited selection and none of them were quite what we were looking for.

Also, this one had a full-on pile of feathers beneath it? I couldn’t take a good picture because I was trying to be ✨surreptitious✨, so as not draw attention to a potential pigeon massacre, but there were a lot of feathers, right under the tree??? I was disturbed.

We had to give up on the first place, so we headed to a little farm we had seen on the way. It had a much better selection! We found one we liked almost immediately.

The farm also had a bunch of animals around- this sheep was called Bruno. He seemed to take a liking to me and I was OVERJOYED, but then I realised he was just interested in the lingering smell of sausage and hash brown bap on my fingers. It was very humbling.

There was also a very waggy dog, who had somehow made his way up to eye level, among the tree tops. He seemed happy to be there, though. Easier to survey his domain from the higher vantage point, I guess.

This donkey was staring at the wall like this for a while, which made me chuckle because our old dog used to do exactly the same thing. Apparently one of the donkeys (maybe this one?) will be starring in a school nativity this year, so perhaps he was practising his freeze frames.

After we picked up our tree, we stopped in at (yet another) farm shop on the way home. I didn’t get him, but I thought this little reindeer was very funny.

And that was our tree-buying experience this year! It was much more involved than usual, where we typically go to one place and find a tree within 10 minutes, but it was all the more memorable for it. Also, if we had found a tree we liked at the first place, we never would have met Bruno the sheep! Sometimes life just works out.

I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 7 of Blogmas At Home! Stay merry!

Gemma

xxx

Today’s post is full of festive vibes and winter magic- it’s another Christmas light trail! If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you might remember that last year I went to Christmas at Stourhead, a Christmas light trail in Wiltshire. I had such a nice time there that I decided to go to another light trail- but I wanted to try out a different one this year.

Enter: Christmas at Blenheim Palace. Blenheim Palace is a country house in Oxfordshire with huge grounds, so it’s perfect for a light trail. One little note here: when I say huge, I do mean huge– it was definitely longer than the Stourhead trail. I (with my limited energy) did get a bit tired on the walk around. There was a large seating area halfway around and a couple of benches scattered throughout the latter half of the trail, for me to take a couple of much-needed breaks, but it was still on the tougher side- just something to be aware of!

We went towards the end of November, pretty early in the day (just after 5pm)- so it was nice and dark, but not as busy as it would be this month. It was definitely busier than the Stourhead trail, though- particularly on some of the narrower sections of the trail, but it wasn’t too bad.

There are several different ‘experiences’ that make up Christmas at Blenheim Palace- we only went to the light trail, but you can also book tickets for the fair rides, entry to the house itself (which is decorated with a Sleeping Beauty theme), or even a Sleeping Beauty-inspired afternoon tea. Booking any ticket gets you access to the Christmas Market in the courtyard- which we walked around after the trail (and really enjoyed!). You can read more about Christmas at Blenheim Palace on their website.

Now, let’s get into some pictures!

This doesn’t look like much, but it was one of my favourite parts of the trail- as you walk down the zig-zag pathway at the start, the grass on either side was covered in these coloured fairy lights- like little rainbow glow worms. It was so magical!

These trees were constantly changing colour- sometimes they were lit up like a rainbow (as above), sometimes they were all one colour. They were set up over a water feature, so all of the lights were reflected below.

I loved this starry tunnel- it even changed colours as you walked through it! It very much gave me Super Mario Galaxy kinda vibes (slightly niche, I know).

Ah, the return of the marshmallows! I think I mentioned in my Stourhead post that there were marshmallows available for purchase, which you could then toast on these big fire pits. They had the same thing here! We got the vanilla marshmallows (they also had salted caramel and one another flavour that has unfortunately slipped my mind) and they were SO GOOD. However, the sticks they give you are pretty short and the fire pits get super hot– it can be a bit difficult to toast the marshmallow without burning yourself. ALSO, if you plan to do this, bring some means of cleaning your hands with you, because it gets super sticky and I don’t think there were any bathrooms nearby to wash your hands!

I loved these Christmas tree archways- don’t they look like golden baubles?

I think this clock-themed installation was supposed to be a nod to Santa Claus’s Christmas Eve shenanigans, flying through time zones in his sleigh? Along with this big clock arch, there were lots of little clocks labelled with different cities from around the world, but I didn’t take a photo of them because… all the times were wrong? The Dublin and London clocks were showing different times! I was confused and I felt betrayed, so I boycotted taking a photo. I liked the above clock arch very much though!

This heart arch was the reason I chose Blenheim Palace for this year’s light trail- it’s just SO PRETTY! As you can expect, there were lots of couples taking photos under this one.

For any Harry Potter fans, this floating candle installation gave off MAJOR Hogwarts vibes.

Ah, a trip down memory lane with this fairy light arch. This was my favourite installation in Stourhead, but now I’m wondering if all Christmas light trails have one of these?

This! This was my ABSOLUTE favourite part of the whole trail- you catch a glimpse of it at the start and then, towards the end, you walk right by it and see it up close. This huge, rainbow gradient tree has made me question everything I ever thought I felt about Christmas decorations and now I have my heart set on creating my own version of this one day. Is this a realistic dream? Probably not (that’s a heck of a lot of baubles), but Christmas is a time for miracles, right?

This is the only photo I took from the Christmas Market in the Palace’s courtyard- you can look around it before or after the light trail, but we opted to look after because we were so excited to see the lights (read: we were already 5 minutes late for our time slot). There were lots of stalls selling all sorts of things from handmade gifts, to tasty snacks and beverages. I had a pizza from the stall above and it was really tasty! Also, the sign made me laugh (hence why I remembered to take the picture).

Overall, I really enjoyed my time at Christmas at Blenheim Palace (even though my legs needed a good day or two to recover afterwards!). There were loads of different installations and things to see, and the Christmas Market made the whole thing feel extra special.

I hope you’ve enjoyed Day 2 of Blogmas at Home- I’ll be back tomorrow with another festive post. In the meantime, stay holly and jolly! 🎄☃️

Gemma

xxx

Contrary to what the name of this blog suggests, I have (on occasion) been known to leave my house and venture out into the Real World. Shock! Horror! Surprise! Few things can entice me to do this, but an evening filled with Christmas lights, hot drinks and even toasted marshmallows (!) is definitely one of them. Enter: Christmas at Stourhead, a Christmas light trail at a National Trust property in Wiltshire (coincidentally: the setting of Mr Darcy’s first (ill-fated) proposal to Elizabeth in the 2007 version of Pride and Prejudice! This, obviously, was the main reason I both found out about Christmas at Stourhead and decided to go). The following photo is my desperate attempt to get a photo of the Temple of Apollo, which is where the scene was filmed!

Yeah… the darkness may have been conducive to a light trail, but it was not so good for getting me my fangirl’s photo of the far-away temple (note: much to my disappointment, this was the closest the trail got you to the temple).

Anyway, today, I thought I would share some pictures from our trip! We went at the end of November, just as the trail was opening, and booked an early-ish slot (5pm), in the hopes that it would be relatively quiet. We were right! While there were still a good few groups walking the trail, there was no queue to enter. The trail was also quite spread out, so we very rarely felt like we were being shepherded along.

The lights themselves were beautiful! My favourite was the Tunnel of Light (pictured above). Each of the lights was a tiny flower up close!

Aren’t they pretty?! The trail was split up into sections, with a different light display in each one. There was a lot of red light, which did, admittedly, feel a bit ominous in some places, but looked stunning in others, such as this hanging poppy showcase:

Even the trees had been illuminated for the occasion- these stars were a particular highlight for me!

Coincidentally, these stars were found just after the marshmallow toasting station, which was another highlight of the trail. You purchase a marshmallow on a stick (it does cost extra, but it really was worth it), which you then take to one of the fire pits to toast. Super delicious! This could get a bit messy though, particularly if you have children- you might want to pack some wipes, just in case! Unfortunately, the only picture I have of said marshmallows also features me, doing an extremely accurate impression of a T-Rex devouring its prey. I will, of course, not be sharing that!

Marshmallows were not the only snacks you could pick up around the trail- there were plenty of kiosks and stalls selling snacks, hot drinks and meals. This stall was by far the coziest, prettiest one of all- it sold a variety of hot and alcoholic drinks. I think it was called The Box. Both the mulled wine and the hot chocolate were delicious: lovely and warming to sip as you walked around the trail. A quick side note: there are multiple kiosks selling hot chocolate throughout the trail- this one is a good bit of the way around! If you can hold out, I definitely recommend waiting to buy your hot chocolate here. It sells Hotel Chocolat hot chocolate for £4, whereas the other kiosks all seemed to sell Cadbury’s instant stuff for the same price!

This final picture shows one of the later instalments of the trail, which I thought was so original and unusual that I just had to show you!

Isn’t it cool?

Anyway, that was my trip to Christmas at Stourhead 2022. I have to say, I really loved it! I’m so glad I ventured out of my house for it, as it was a lovely, christmassy experience. Have you ever been? Or have you been to a different Christmas light trail? Let me know!

Gemma

xxx