Kedleston at Christmas

What? you ask. Another place dressed up for Christmas? Yes. Sorry. We seem to be going all out to see every decorated stately home within a 40 minute radius this year, and last weekend saw us at the nearest - Kedleston Hall, just outside Derby.

The decorations here were a little less flamboyant that at other places we've visited - aiming more for a look of how it might have looked for a family Christmas than for the themed tableau effects of Chatsworth or Hardwick. 


















Even so, there were Christmas trees in almost every room, garlands brightening the banisters and even the ropes to keep visitors from an unsafe floor had a festive air.

Kedleston is such an over-the-top place in terms of size and decoration - high ceilings, gilded mouldings everywhere - that at times a Christmas tree that would overwhelm an average living room was dwarfed by its surroundings.



So the Saloon for example (below) had four - one in each alcove!




























A clever touch was coordinating the tree decorations with the styling of each room -  red and gold in the Saloon, blue baubles here to match the flocked wallpaper.


















































There were even musical themed ornaments for the Music Room, with a decorated drum, and bells and stars made from sheet music for the tree.

In the library, on a desk where you might expect to find plans of the estate laid out, was this wonderful snowy model of Kedleston, with lights twinkling in the buildings' windows.

...and in a  smaller room,a pair of legs sticking out of the fireplace - it could only be Santa, stuck up the chimney!