Hankering after some showstopping Yuletide decoration ideas? There's no better inspiration than the world's grandest stately homes, which have gone all out this year to deck their halls with the most fabulous and fantastical festive adornments, with homages to everything from The Nutcracker to Narnia. Get into the holiday spirit and click or scroll through to feast your eyes on the best festive estates...
When it comes to magical Christmas decorations, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more spellbinding display than the one Blenheim Palace has dreamt up for this festive season. Themed around a reimagining of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King story by E. T. A. Hoffmann and the Tchaikovsky ballet it inspired, the spectacle is absolutely captivating. The magic begins in the Entrance Hall with its trio of lofty trees.
Each of the palace's main rooms has been transformed to tell the iconic tale, taking visitors on an unforgettable journey starting in the workshop of toymaker Drosselmeyer, where the Nutcracker has a showdown with the Mouse King and is transformed into a dashing prince, who whisks the toymaker's god-daughter Clara away on an enchanting adventure.
The story then progresses to the glistening Land of Snow with its frozen pine forest, which is shown in all its frosty glory in this mesmerising shot. The next port of call is the Land of Sweets. Ruled over by the Sugar Plum Fairy, this beguiling fairytale space is decorated with pastel-hued candies and life-sized gingerbread men.
It's here that sweets from around the world, including candy canes from Russia and chocolates from Spain dance for Clara and the prince's amusement in the famous ballet. As if The Nutcracker spectacle wasn't enough to bowl over visitors to the palace this Christmas, there's also a magnificent light show in the grounds featuring over a million lights, lasers and seasonal sounds.
America's largest home, the spectacular 250-room Biltmore Estate built for George Vanderbilt never fails to impress with its lavish Christmas decorations. This year's theme is A Christmas Carol, with the decorations nodding to traditional festive songs rather than the classic Dickens story. The star attraction as always is the 35-foot Fraser fir in the manse's Banquet Hall.
The amazing American estate most definitely doesn't scrimp when it comes to festive finery. In addition to over 100 Christmas trees, the country estate is decorated with more than 100,000 lights and 10,000 ornaments. This opulent display on the Music Room mantel celebrates the popular carol 'We Three Kings'.
Many of the estate's decorations are custom-made in-house. The tree in the manse's Library for instance is crowned with a charming handcrafted clock face topper and is themed around the carol 'Jolly Old St Nicholas', which mentions a clock striking twelve on Christmas Eve, heralding the arrival of Santa.
First Lady Dr Jill Biden recently unveiled the White House decorations for 2021, which include 41 trees, 78,750 lights, 10,000 ornaments and 6,000 feet of ribbon. Inspired by gestures of goodwill that have raised people's spirits during the pandemic, this year's theme is the Gifts from the Heart uniting us all, including faith and community, which are celebrated here in the Grand Foyer and Cross Hall.
The official White House Christmas tree, an 18-and-a-half-foot Fraser fir sourced from a farm in North Carolina, is themed around the gifts of peace and unity. Taking pride of place in the Blue Room, the native Appalachian tree is decorated with peace doves carrying banners embossed with the names of each American state and territory.
Given its location in snowy Canada, Toronto's Casa Loma is the stately home in our round-up most likely to get a white Christmas, which would add immeasurably to the festive vibe it's serving up. In front of the castle is a towering tree that has been placed in the forecourt fountain, but it's just one of many gracing the estate, which have been decorated by a slew of eminent Canadian designers.
The tallest tree, however, is the 40-foot beauty in the Great Hall. Bedecked with a wealth of eye-catching adornments from snowflake decorations to gold baubles and ribbons aplenty, it's a wonderful sight to behold, along with the colourfully wrapped presents and wicker reindeer at its base.
The highlight of Christmas at the Canadian mansion though has got to be the sensational light tour. Peppered with a variety of Yuletide themes, it weaves in and out of the building and through the grounds of the stately home and features a twinkling festive market, A Christmas Carol exhibit and a myriad of sparkling displays.
The tour culminates in a trip to the North Pole and Santa's grotto where the little and not-so-little ones can meet the man himself, as well as his other half Mrs Claus in a wondrous space jam-packed with giant nutcrackers, supersized candy canes and lavish Christmas trees decorated with hundreds of teddy bears and other soft toys, including Teletubbies and PAW Patrol characters.
As magical festive spectacles go, Castle Howard near York gives Blenheim Palace a serious run for its money with the thoroughly entrancing Christmas in Narnia experience based on the beguiling world created by C S Lewis. The theme takes your breath away from the get-go with a 25-foot tree in the Great Hall, which is decorated with over 3,000 icy baubles.
Visitors are fully transported into the land accessed via an old wooden wardrobe thanks to compelling installations, lighting and soundscapes. Cleverly, the people behind the creation have made the most of the statue-filled Antique Passage, with its busts and other sculptures mimicking the unfortunate souls turned to stone by the infamous White Witch.
Jadis herself is stunningly depicted on a shimmering sleigh drawn by white stags in a room bathed in cold blue light that is sure to send a chill down the spine and bring out the goosebumps of anyone who dares to venture there. Thankfully, the witch's spell is broken by the time you get to the end of the experience when the lion Aslan saves the day.
You can always trust the French to do a sophisticated take on Yuletide decorations and Château de Cheverny in the Loire Valley certainly doesn't disappoint with its chic adornments. Among the many highlights is this display is a golden carriage topped with a crown, surrounded by snow-white reindeers.
The palace's Guard Room is suitably decorated with exceedingly tall nutcracker soldiers, which fit in perfectly with the suits of armour and displays of antique military uniforms. Resting comfortably on a gilded throne are four dog toys dressed up as army officers, clearly from before the French Revolution.
Dazzling in pastel pink, this elegant room in the dreamy castle has been dressed with two petite Christmas trees adorned with a selection of trinkets that look good enough to eat, including gingerbread houses and men, bonbons and lollipops, along with china dolls in baroque costume and fluffy polar bears. Next to the trees is a table topped with jumbo-sized macarons.
The edible theme carries into the Dining Room. The table here is brimming with delectable Christmas confections, from macaron towers and tiered cakes to an expertly decorated gingerbread house and other yummy-looking patisserie treats, not to mention tiny snow globes, mini Christmas trees and other cute decorations.
The Queen, who recently suffered a bout of ill-health, is said to have perked up of late and has reportedly been getting into the festive spirit, undoubtedly helped along by the beautiful decorations at Windsor Castle, where Her Majesty's been staying before she decamps to Sandringham for the royal Christmas break. Last year, the castle's exterior was decked out with beautiful rose wreaths and miniature illuminated fir trees.
This year's decorations at the ancient castle include a display in the Waterloo Chamber of costumes worn by the young monarch and her sister Princess Margaret for their wartime pantomime performances from 1941-1944, which are complemented by colourful Art Deco-style pictures depicting Little Red Riding Hood, Aladdin and other panto characters.
Decorations in other parts of the castle are as splendid as one would expect from a royal residence. The centrepiece is the 20-foot Christmas tree in St George's Hall, which was taken from the adjacent Windsor Great Park. The handsome Nordmann fir is decorated with hundreds of gold and red glass and mirrored ornaments that sparkle in the light. The tree is topped with a china doll, possibly of the young Queen in a golden dress with ermine sleeves and a cape.
There's also a 15-foot Nordmann fir in the Crimson Drawing Room, which fittingly has been adorned with deep crimson, brighter red and purple decorations. Numerous garlands hang in other areas of the castle, along with a number of other Christmas trees and according to CountryLiving, as many as 200,000 lights twinkle in the stately home this festive season.
The Duke and Duchess of Rutland have reportedly fallen on hard times as visitors to their ancestral seat Belvoir Castle have declined in number due to the pandemic, but the Christmas decorations for 2021 should help drum up business at the struggling stately home. For this year, the Duchess, Emma Manners, has called upon the services of interior designer Charlotte Lloyd-Webber, who opted for a Regency-style theme.
Harking back to the era towards the end of the Georgian period and just before the Victorian period, the Dining Room is resplendent with exotic birds, palm trees and other extravagant decorations, which according to the castle's Instagram, draw inspiration from the Banqueting Room in the Brighton Pavilion.
Like several rooms in the castle, the imposing Guard Room has been kitted out with a fine Christmas tree, which looks dazzling in this grand space with its intricately beamed ceiling and patterned floor. The first known Christmas tree in England was unveiled during the Regency era by Queen Charlotte, the German wife of King George III, in 1800 at Queen's Lodge in Windsor.
Charlotte Lloyd-Webber's designs have a showy theatrical feel and this is evident in her choice of decorations for Belvoir, which abound with flamboyant touches like butterflies and feathers, as you can see from this colourful display on the mantel of the fireplace in the Guard Room.
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, which is located south of Paris in the village of Maincy, attracts visitors from far and wide during the festive season, who flock to see its famed illuminations. Entering the grounds of the stately home, it's impossible not to be impressed by the glittering walk down the Christmas tree-lined drive.
After dark, the thousands of strings of fairy lights that cover everything from the topiary hedges to the statues make for an amazing sight. For the third year running, the façade of the baroque château is projected with a light show that moves through six scenes evoking the stately home's storied history.
This year, the lights and decorations inside the stately home are partly themed around the fables of Jean de La Fontaine to mark the 400th anniversary of the writer's birth. The Chamber of the Muses is a homage to famous fables, with the room's ostentatious décor reflected in a multitude of mirrors.
Other installations include one representing The Ant and the Grasshopper fable in sugar, as well as The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Fox and the Squirrel. The château staff have also dusted off the decorations that appear year after year, including this snowy scene, which is nothing short of magnifique.
Like the other stately homes in our round-up, Chatsworth House in Derbyshire can be relied upon every Yuletide to pull off a winning festive display, with this year's theme a sort of greatest hits of the past 20 years of decorations. Shown here is the Painted Hall, which has what could very well be one of the tallest indoor Christmas trees in England.
And there are plenty more where that came from, including this exquisitely decorated stunner. The stylish adornments that hang from its branches include baubles in various shades of silvery grey and snowy white stars, with the stark hues of these trinkets contrasting with the warm glow of the golden Christmas fairy lights.
On closer inspection, you can see that the decorations, which appear luxurious and expensive from afar, are actually made from discarded household items such as spent corks and bottle tops, used coffee pods, waste paper and more, making them marvellously sustainable and no doubt inspiring visitors to get creative with the stuff they throw away.
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