Last weekend, I visited Kingston Lacy with a group of friends in order to see the house decorated for the holidays and to walk the winter lights trail at the property. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may remember my first visit to Kingston Lacy in early June: An Afternoon at Kingston Lacy (Dorset, England). The house was decorated for an Edwardian Christmas that former owner Henrietta Bankes and her children would have known, and it includes inspirations from their lists, letters, and cards.
Each of the rooms had a tree, and only the first floor was open with the level above closed off. One of the rooms contained games and toys that would have been popular for Christmas in the Edwardian period, and this was busy with families participating in the games and toys in front of a large Christmas tree.
However, before we went into the house, we checked out the shop and had a hot chocolate. I loved the decorations around the shop.
When inside the house, we were greeted with a red and gold tree inside the main entrance hall and the fireplace a few steps up decorated in the same colour scheme.
Up the stairs were two more trees, this time decorated in silver. And at the top of the stairs, the stairwell to the top floor was closed off with wrapped gifts and more red and gold decorations.
The main room contained a large Christmas tree and the games.
This led into another room with its own Christmas tree.
The dining room had a pile of boxes on the table and a blue and gold tree. The table contained a couple of gifts from the family along with letters that they wrote about the gifts for Christmas.
The small room had a smaller tree made with sliced oranges.
Seeing Kingston Lacy at Christmas was a unique experience and very different from the first visit in June.
Unfortunately, all of the house tours have been booked, but you can chance turning up on the day. The house and winter lights trail is free to visit for National Trust members.
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