We don’t seem to be fitting in so many trips to local seasonal events this year but we have made it to the Christmas event at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire. This National trust property decorates one wing, known as the Batchelor’s Wing, using a different theme each year. For the past couple of years this has featured one of the five European countries where the founding sons of the Rothschild dynasty made their fortunes. Waddesdon was built by one of these sons but this year the theme is Italy for his brother Carl.

Huge trees are set up in the various rooms and amongst the usual baubles are items related to the theme. Decorations included carnival masks in the Venetian themed room and miniature picture frames and paint brushes in the room dedicated to great Italian artists. The film The Italian Job was marked by a tree garlanded with miniature “gold” bars with models of Minis and a coach suspended fro the branches. The formal dining room decorations were inspired by the citrus groves with towering displays of fruit and swags of olive branches whilst the smaller dining room was dedicated to Leonardo as an engineer and mathematician with protractors, rulers and set squares marking the place settings.

For children, the staircase display told the story of Befana who brings toys to Italian children on the Eve of Epiphany and scenes from Pinocchio’s adventures were spread through the ground floor rooms including a particularly amusing “whale” bursting through the bathroom window and disgorging Pinocchio and Giuseppe into the waves.

Carl Rothschild was based in Naples, an area noted for creating wonderful crib scenes. An example was set up in the Billiard room and in a nearby room a tree had been decorated all in red to represent Vesuvius.

The rooms and setting remain the same each year but the variations in decorations and hidden details make it well worth making a return visit, helping to instil the Christmas spirit.

Photography is not allowed within the house but the grounds are open and lighted trees are dotted around. The birds can still be viewed in the aviary and indeed they seemed more vociferous and visible than on summer visits. A reindeer trail leads down through the children’s play area to the Stable block with shop and café. In the early years of this event the house stayed open until 6 so the full effect of this could be enjoyed but now 4 is the closing time. Visiting at this time of year gives quite a different perspective on both house and grounds and certainly sets us up for the festive season.