Christmas in the Big House, UK Edition

No, not jail, in one of the major homes here in England!
 

Jacob visits the big house!

Castle Howard is known worldwide by another more famous and fictional name, Brideshead. It featured as the home of the Marchmain family in the early 1980s BBC miniseries and again in the 2008 feature film., both based on the Evelyn Waugh classic Brideshead Revisited. The house still has part of the set from the film upstairs. It's the deathbed room of Lord Marchmain, with appropriately gloomy wall decorations.

Images of death surround this bed...good thing it is only a set!

The house was anything but gloomy when we went the weekend before Christmas. It was full of Christmas decorations, including festive decoration in the most unlikely places.

Happy Christmas!

Other decorations were more typical of the season, including a two-story tall Christmas tree.

All were amazed with the glorious sight!

Goofing off while warming up!

Many of the rooms were decorated for the holidays too.

Writing desk, vanity, and one small decoration

Festive music box

Festive music room

Spare Christmas tree with lone present

The dining room was also set for Christmas lunch. Too bad the area was roped off from us.

The dinner table

The serving table

Did you notice anything special in the pictures above? Eagle-eyed readers may have seen more than one stuffed lion next to a neatly-wrapped Christmas present. This lion is Geoffrey and he is the mascot of the castle. We met him in the flesh, er, costume at the entrance. He was also wearing a Father Christmas robe.

Geoffrey and his entourage

The entrance is also where we received treasure hunt sheets for the children. If they could spot all the different presents next to the various Geoffreys and return the sheet, they received a little candy. Jacob and Lucy both took little chocolate treats. Lucy ate hers right away. Jacob put his in his jacket pocket, where it still waits for someone to eat it. Excuse me while I check if it's still there...Well, it was there, but now is gone. [BURP] But let me get back to Geoffrey.

Geoffrey the Lion has two connections to the family. The lion is part of the heraldic symbols of the Howard family. Also, all the men in the Howard family have Geoffrey in their name (often as second or third name). He is present year round and has an outdoor treasure hunt for the children when the weather is more pleasant.

The design for the Howard family crest is top left, the red guy on the shield is a lion

We had lunch at the castle. On the side of the castle is a cafe where you can dine on some fine fare. We had turkey sandwiches. I had cranberries with mine!

The tent was heated to keep the patrons warm.

A yummy lunch with bacon-wrapped sausages--oh, bliss!

I saw on the menu that they served Brideshead Bitter, but I couldn't find any in the cafe. As we headed back to the entrance, we stopped at the stores. One sold a variety of local products, including a couple of Christmas novelty brews and the long anticipated Brideshead Bitter.

The beer was a fine example of a bitter. It was satisfying but not particularly distinguished. Odd, given its lofty connections.

We will definitely return to Howard Castle in better weather to see more of the outdoors, especially the gardens when they are in bloom.