Christmas at Haddon Hall

On a wet dripping day just before Christmas we headed to Haddon. 

I'd intended to go earlier in the month while the Mercatum Christmas fair was taking place, but tickets for it sold out rapidly, and my hopes were dashed. After the Mercatum, the hall closes for a few days then re-opens decorated for Christmas, and this year a few of the stall-holders stayed on. That was enough to persuade me to visit - undoubtedly helped by my early Christmas present to myself of Historic Houses membership which allows free access to Haddon and many other stately homes. ( I intend to make next year one of exploration)

The imposing outer entrance, reached up a steep flight of steps, was once designed to keep people out but now it's a welcoming sight with twinkling lights inside.

Across the courtyard, the main entrance to the hall was again hung with festive decorations, and a most welcome reprieve from the heavy rain.

The great hall itself boasted a magnificent tree, and all the other rooms from kitchen to long gallery were decorated too.

Back outside and heading across the courtyard, my attention was caught by the open drains which captured the rain and fed it through pipes and out beyond the buildings to fall into the river. I've visited many times before but not in wet weather so this was something new! 












 

December

December is always a busy month - more so than usual I think this year with visits to Christmas markets and decorated stately homes, followed by the inevitable shopping and cooking.

We started at Haddon Hall, continued at Calke Abbey and Kedleston Hall, then returned to Chatsworth which we'd already visited in November for the market, but this time to see inside the house.

In between all these trips, I tried to keep up my daily walking (not easy with damp weather and dark evenings), and, very exciting, we had a new front door fitted (a sort of Christmas present to ourselves)

Christmas itself was busy and fun-filled with two full dinners  - one with turkey (though it's missing from the photo) and one with a vegan roast. My grandson's birthday falls in the immediate post-Christmas period so involves another family party - this time with burgers and cake, as he was allowed to choose the food.

The days just after Christmas were shrouded in mist so instead of a walk outside we settled for another inside visit to Kedleston

Kedleston in the mist

 

Haddon Mercatum

The start of December brings with it a certain sort of shopping frenzy fueled by Christmas's imminent arrival. I'm trying my best to avoid doing all on my present-buying on line which is ample reason to be off out to another Christmas market - this time at Haddon Hall.

This is the first time I've visited but I'd heard good things about it, and it definitely didn't disappoint. 

It's hard at first to appreciate how large the market is - there were stalls situated on the flat ground before the hall, some in the main courtyard, more throughout the hall's rooms and kitchens, and a marquee in the terraced garden.

I'm always drawn to the foodie section first, sampling this and that, picking up some treats to bring home (Infusions apple balsamic vinegar, and cakes for the evening), and getting some lunch (bean chilli from Eat Shoots and Leaves), before facing the climb up to the hall.

Through the main door and into the courtyard filled with mainly outdoorsy stalls - wreaths, plants, woodworking - 

then into the Great Hall dominated by a huge Christmas tree, and on into the smaller rooms beyond before heading into the garden and returning via the Long Chamber. I lost count of the number of vendors  - more cheese, chocolate and flavoured spirits, jewellery, soaps, knitted goods, candles; a list that goes on forever.

I particularly liked the setting. Not traipsing through mud from stall to stall, but going inside and experiencing the atmosphere of such an historic house. Although the rooms weren't fully decorated for Christmas there was a festive atmosphere throughout with lights in the windows, trees and garlands. 

Looking back as we left it's easy to imagine Haddon in its Tudor heyday. 

Back home though for some rather delicious cakes.
 

Christmas at Haddon

  A couple of weeks ago I won a competition on Facebook to visit Haddon Hall this Christmas. Ill health meant I had to leave my visit till the last minute but eventually I went and had a fab time.
















 Haddon, with its old stone and small-paned windows, is wonderful and atmospheric at any time of year but especially at Christmas with roaring fires and twinkling lights.
























































































Decorations throughout were mainly natural materials, and I even got chance to make one of my own - a small pomander fragranced with orange and cinnamon.

Once Upon A Time - Christmas at Haddon Hall

 Earlier this week we took ourselves off through the mist and murk to Haddon Hall (just about visible as we approached over the bridge) to see it arrayed for Christmas

The theme this year is Once Upon A Time, with tableaux featuring favourite childhood stories.













Outside in the courtyard, we spotted Rapunzel's hair lowered through a tower window - though high in the tower she was barely visible through the mist!

Moving into the kitchens, Cinderella appeared to have left her position by the hearth

















but the three bears were still seated at their table, trying to finish their porridge before Goldilocks arrived.










Their Christmas tree was appropriately decorated with wooden spoons and tiny bears











Here's the door to Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother's house. No cold callers, canvassers or big bad wolves it says on the sign, and the table is laid ready for tea, but whose are those large hairy hands opening the door?






























We left quickly before the Big Bad Wolf could spring out at us,

and, following the rose briars climbing up the stairs and along corridors, we found Cinderella's coach and tiny glass slipper ... but still no sign of Cinders herself.

The rambling roses led us onward to the Long Gallery where nature had completely taken over

and we found Sleeping Beauty waiting in a flowery bower for her prince to waken her.

Beyond, in a small room, elves worked overnight to help a penniless shoemaker, and his wife rewarded them with new suits of clothes.

Haddon Hall itself is the real 'sleeping beauty' though - a manor house that feels untouched since Tudor times, with uneven small panes of greenish glass in the windows, warped and weathered doors, and thick stones walls to keep out the winter chill.

  I've visited in summer when the gardens are filled with roses but approaching through the mist gave a definite feel of stumbling on a forgotten castle, filled with memories of the past.

Curiously this year neighboring Chatsworth House has chosen the same theme of Once Upon a Time for its Christmas display. See here  for photos of their version.