We are currently on the cusp of moving home. We don’t have a date yet, but we are looking at completing within one month. It could be next week or it could be next year. All that we know is it’s happening pretty soon. This coupled with the fact that Phil and I have both been ridiculously busy has resulted in our current home feeling pretty unfestive. In fact if it wasn’t for our beautiful wreath on the door and our advent calendars, you could easily mistake us for relatives of The Grinch. It’s a terrible shame because I love Christmas. It’s pretty much the only positive thing about winter and I just adore anything festive. Anyway, seeing as we aren’t acting very festive at home, we decided to go to places that are festive. 

We recently became members of The National Trust. It’s something that I had been toying with for a couple of months because there are so many beautiful places to explore and you can go with anyone – family, friends and even dog. We both love a bit of fresh air and a stroll around perfectly manicured gardens and ferocious looking woodland and what better way to do those things than with The National Trust? It’s actually quite affordable and only a couple of quid a month. I worked out that as long as we visited a couple of the places within a year that we would easily make that money back. It was also quite exciting as this is our first membership as a married couple!

 
Flash forward a couple of weeks and I found myself at Waddesdon Manor with one of my favourite people in the world, Alex. Around Christmas time, the people at Waddesdon Manor fill the house with beautifully decorated Christmas trees and general festive paraphernalia. It gets booked up quite quickly, so I would highly recommend booking weeks in advance.

Unfortunately poor Phil had to work all day, so was unable to join Alex and I. Luckily for him we landed up going the next day too, so he only missed out on the house (fully booked!).

They have so much to do at Waddesdon from light displays to nature trails and even a Christmas market. It was really lovely.

   

  

 The trees are all themed and I loved how much their filled the room with their gorgeous aroma.

They had a dressing up area which we think was for children. It didn’t stop Alex trying on the top hat though!

   

  

  

  

  

  

 I really loved their Narnia room. It truly felt like you could step straight into Narnia through the coats. So magical!

  The grounds are also divine and it was great that they had the Christmas market on. We enjoyed smores and toasted marshmallows!

   

  

  

  

  

 The light show was really amazing. They have a show on the main house to music that feels like something out of a Disney movie and an art installation by Bruce Munro. It’s not very festive, but is pretty special!

The following day Phil’s Dad came to visit and we decided to visit Ashridge Estate as they had a Christmas market on (clearly making the most out of our passes!).

Steve was quite excited!

   

  

 Their market was super busy and didn’t feel as magical as Waddesdon. We enjoyed a lamb burger and picked up a wonderful wreath before deciding to go to Waddesdon as it’s not too far away.

   

  

 We visited the stables before hitting up the nature trail, making the most of the beautiful setting. Oh how I love being outdoors!

   

  

  

  

  

  

 We then had a mooch (and some chilli nachos) round their Christmas market which felt much more authentic and fitted perfectly into the opulent setting of Waddesdon Manor before checking out the light show (it was actually different second time around would you believe!).

We then stopped off on the way home for my first festive supper of the winter. 

  
What a perfect weekend!

L x