Waddesdon Manor - Christmas markets

Everybody, at least once, should experience the magic of Waddesdon Manor.

My cousin told me about this place yonks  ago and each year I never managed to visit for one reason or another (probably because December gets booked up so fast!) but last year, Mr Poachie and I booked a festive mini break to Oxfordshire and we booked tickets far in advance for the Christmas markets and to see the house dressed up in its finery.

I will write a separate post about the rest of the trip but Waddesdon needs its own dedicated blog post as it is truly a marvel.

When you arrive and park up remember to take note of where you parked as the fields are huge and it is super busy! You can then either walk up to the house or wait for the bus. The queues were enormous and it was bloody cold so we chose to walk which took about 20 mins at least.

When you get to the top you are greeted by this ominous looking manor, it is the kind of place that Batman would have bought as a country bolthole to escape from London. Serious gothic vibes.

On the lawn outside they had around 50 maybe more traditional Christmas market huts, selling food, drinks, chocolate, toys, all sorts of things. I think you can visit just the market if you want and not bother to go inside but we booked tickets to go inside and I hope my photo's do it justice....

Each room had its own 'theme', I lost count of how many rooms there were but I know I took more photo's than I have included in this post but it was so well done. It wasn't tacky, it wasn't overly busy on the inside so you could stop and marvel and take a moment (and a lot of photo's) without being in someone's way, or more annoyingly when they are in your way!

I felt they really captured the magic of Christmas. I know as you get older you seem to lose interest and a lot of people say it comes back when you have kids but I don't have children so I am very much trying to keep the festive spirit alive!

Can you imagine if this was your job? To go out and source all of the decorations, they must spend hours in the top places in London or maybe Europe and then come back to dress the house. It was just spectacular. I think this room was about Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatters tea party.

I really tried to not be on my phone taking photos of everything as I wanted to enjoy being there and wanted to be 'present' pardon the pun. I can't help but reach for my camera though, I have loved looking back at these photo's and have enough to fill my December pics on the gram!

This room with the ballet shoes was one of my favourites, I think most girls wanted to be a ballerina when they were little and I think ballet shoes are beautiful? I am tempted to buy a pair from ebay to see if I can use them for some sort of crafting project.

Wondering around the house I had so many questions; how many people does it take to decorate the house? What is the most expensive bauball? Who has the vision and decides what goes where? What kind of man hours does it take for it to be completely finished?

I watched a program about the Ritz hotel and their Christmas tree comes from Norway and it takes them all night to decorate it. 

We have two trees this year; a seven footer in the kitchen and a little one upstairs in our bedroom on a toboggan. Ideally I would like to buy one more to put in the living room but Mr Poachie might not agree to that! I would also like one in the hallway. I love Christmas!

I can't remember how long it took us to walk around the house, perhaps just under 2 hours? But it wasn't enough I wanted more.

Afterwards we had a mooch about the stalls and bought some mulled cider (which was actually quite horrid) and also ate a yummy potato cheese raclette dish and bought a naughty brownie for later.

I was never going to be able to get a photo without other people! It was perhaps the most grand National Trust venue I have ever visited, and we visited some big ones on this trip.

We were freezing our butts off by the time it got dark so walked the journey back to the car high on Christmas spirit. My advice would be wrap up warm, wear boots that you don't mind getting muddy and enjoy yourself!!