A Time And Place For Festive Splendour

Only exaggerated and dramatic seasonal decoration could have any impact upon Castle Howard’s decadent grandeur, in which Christmas is splendidly celebrated.

- Jacky Hobbs

Anticipation builds, as it should, on the approach to the house via its five-mile, 18th-century avenue, cutting as straight as an arrow through the 9,000-acre estate. after passing though stone-arched and turreted gateways, catching glimpses of the house, pyramid, Mausoleum and temple, the visitor finally turns right, by the monumental stone obelisk, to see its final approach, lined with some 40 fairy-lit Christmas trees, culminating in a magnificent fir at the main portico to the great house.

Decorating north Yorkshire’s castle Howard for Christmas requires a concerted team effort from the Howards themselves—who mastermind the annual dressing—and their in-house team as well as contributing external designers and artists. Supplies of fir trees and foliage branches, mosses and pine cones are gathered from the estate. The house is closed for up to a couple of weeks in the run-up to the Christmas opening, as many of the arrangements, being too large to pass through the doorways, are created in situ.