Ho Ho Ho!

December has arrived and with it, Winter. Although you wouldn't think so with the cracking weather that we've been having recently - it has been pretty glorious! Cold, but pretty.

The arrival of Winter means that it's really very nearly Christmas time.

At my family home we absolutely love Christmas, my mum and little brother, Matthew go crazy for it. In fact, today I've had confirmation that they have already got a vast amount of decorations up with Matt taking the lead - think Santa's grotto but with more decorations! 

It's such a special time of year that means many different things to many different people. For me, it's all about family, friends and spending time with the ones you love – and not forgetting bread sauce! Is there anyone who doesn't love bread sauce?! :)

This time of year was definitely special for Beatrix too! And it was in the festive period that she became an author and illustrator. She would frequently design menus and place cards for family meals but it was in 1890 when she began to take it more seriously. With a little push from her brother, Bertram she sold some of her drawings to Hildesheimer & Faulkner, London who used her images in Christmas cards. And rest, as they say, is history!

For all of us working up at Hill Top and at the Beatrix Potter Gallery it's been a busy month since our buildings closed at the end of the season.

Over at Hill Top we've been occupied with checking the inventory against the objects in the house, meticulously working our way through the house room by room checking objects off the list as we go.

Slowly, steadily and with great care we cleaned, checked and covered each object to protect them until it is time to open the house again in 2015.

This was quite full on but I've taken a few snaps to show you some of what we've been up to :)

Martin making friends with Henry!

                         

These are some funny shaped ghosts!

I've decided to go on a completely different tangent for the main part of my blog this month, if truth be known I wasn't really sure what direction to take. Our Marketting and Communications Co-ordinator asked me to give it a festive feel if it was possible and with all our objects put away for Winter I was a bit stuck for ideas.
After thinking about it (for quite a while), my girlfriend gave me a great idea and it seemed like a lot of fun so decided to roll with it :)

I'm assuming that most of you will recognise this traditional festive tune but I have adapted the words a little. 

I hope it will bring a smile to your face and engulf you in festive feelings :) - and I expect you all to sing it aloud!

On the first day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Hill Top in her legacy

On the second day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Two egg heads

"What an egg-citing blog post!"

On the third day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Three Chippendale chairs

On the fourth day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Four ivory Netsukes

 
 

On the fifth day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

FIVE QUUUUIIIRRRRRRRKKKKY DOLLS

You know when you have the feeling that someone is watching you?...

On the sixth day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Six ceramic teapots

On the seventh day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Seven mystery silhouettes

On the Eighth day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Eight flowery teacups

On the Ninth day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Nine Bertram landscapes

   

On the tenth day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Ten of Rupert's plates

On the eleventh day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Eleven ruby glasses

On the twelfth day of Christmas Beatrix gave to you and me

Twelve mini characters




 

Wow! With that little musical delight (I'm using those words VERY loosely!) out in the open I hope you're not judging me too much right now haha.

This festive filled post will more than likely be the last time you'll hear from me for the remainder of 2014 so I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I hope you all have wonderful Christmases and I shall catch you in 2015! :)

Ta ta for now,

Natalie :)

All the words are mine (and some of the snaps are too) but I've had to borrow a few of the images off our collections website :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wishing you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all the team at Hill Top and the Beatrix Potter Gallery. We'll be back with lots of new updates in the new year - remember to check back then.

Taken on the way to work as the sun was rising in the Rusland Valley

The Xmas post

Our house season ended nearly two months ago

And where has the time gone? we'd all like to know!

We've rounded things off, and we've planned for next year

And now is the time to drop down a gear.

We'd a great Christmas party, we all got well fed ...

A few may have awoken with a sore head

Just a few days left now for last minute things

Before it is Christmas with all that day brings.

Exhanging those cards, gifts and best wishes

Swapping time in the office for time with the 'missus'

Eating mince pies and drinking mulled wine

Going for walks in the winter sunshine.

We're taking time off to enjoy this yuletide

Work stuff forgotten and tasks put aside

Merry Xmas to you from the house's blog team

We'll be back the first friday of twenty thirteen!

post by Linda (with apologies for the bad rhymes!)

Size really does matter!

When it comes to Christmas Trees size and shape is everything! And luckily for us our Ranger Team have delivered on both counts!

Earlier this year I had a 'wild' idea to have a 20 foot Christmas Tree at Wray Castle. In fact I didn't think it was such a crazy idea really. When you have a building on the scale of Wray Castle it would be wrong not to get the biggest Christmas Tree possible. The Castle itself is a masterpiece in showing off; everything is over the top, so why not get an over the top Christmas Tree to celebrate our first Christmas open to visitors?


The Tree has arrived- its so big only half of it fits on the trailer. Look at me- I am helping, really!

 Getting the tree into the Castle didn't seem that hard really- especially when you take a 'supervisory' role like I did! Looking at the photo below the tree does appear to be a lot wider than the doors, but fortunately the branches are very flexible with soft pine needles so it was possible to squeeze it through the doorway.




Now, how do we get it upright?

Getting the tree upright required a long rope, pure brute strength, and some ingenuity to stop the trunk of the tree sliding about on our beautiful Minton tiled floor. Once upright and secured, we then had to start the mammoth task of decorating it. The Rangers got the hardest job and were sent up the big extendable ladder to arrange the fairy lights, whilst being directed from below by two members of the Wray Castle House Team.

Looking down at the central hall from the first floor landing- isn't is pretty?

Being a bit of a scrooge, I had only bought one set of lights, but it soon became apparent that one set was not enough. (In fairness to me though, I wasn't too sure that I would be getting the 20 ft tree I asked for, but it turns out this tree is even bigger than that!) Even our building contractors were giving advice on the quantity of tree lights though, or lack of them - and so I had to bow to all these expert interior decorators and get some more lights.



The decorated tree- complete with two sets of lights!

Lottie, Harriet and all the Rangers did a great job getting all the decorations on the tree, whilst I did a job much more suited to my skill set - hoovering! The finished tree really does look fantastic. Even a bah humbug like me cannot fail to feel Christmassy seeing this tree every week.

These photos don't do it justice so why not come and see it for yourself. Wray Castle is open every weekend until the 23rd of December 10.30 - 4pm. You can even do some decorating yourself as we have two other 'normal' sized trees to decorate and Christmas wreaths to make.