Tuesday, December 11, 2012

A Few Festive Scenes from Haddon



On Saturday we met up with friends from Nottingham at Haddon Hall.  Lunch was booked for noon and very tasty it was too, turkey and an assortment of seasonal vegetables for our friends and Derbyshire Homity pie with the same vegetables for us veggies.  The plate came piled high!  It's a good job we didn't have a starter and there was no room left for a pudding.  After lunch we had a wander around the Hall to look at the decorations.  The Great Hall was heaving with people watching the Tudor Group show how Christmas would have been celebrated in Tudor times. 


I took quite a lot of photos so I've just selected a few for you to see how wonderfully festive it was.  It was hard to take any long shots as there were so many people so I took mainly close ups of some of the decorations and displays.

Above and below in the chapel

 The next three were taken in some of the smaller rooms



Below are  photos taken in the Long Gallery in which  a winter wonderland had been created with just twigs and hanging baubles with wicker work reindeer sculptures in the windows.





Last but not least, because we probably spent the most time in here, the kitchens


Someone pointed out that in Tudor times the carrots would have probably been purple not orange!  


After we'd spent time in the kitchens we went back through the hall and long gallery to experience it all again. We then  made our to Caudwell's Mill at Rowsley for a cup of tea before heading off home under the darkening skies of a winter's evening and the added pleasure of seeing the festive lights as we passed through Matlock and Ashbourne.

You may remember that last year we visited Haddon Hall on a Tudor Group weekend and met up with some fellow bloggers Diane from Heart Shaped and Rowan from Circle of the Year.
Here is a - link - to my posts from then.

34 comments:

  1. Haddon looks great, I went to Chatsworth and that is looking wonderfully festive too :)

    Bee happy x

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    1. I bet Chatsworth was looking wonderful, I've never been there at Christmas:)

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  2. It looks wonderful. I love the Long Gallery and the Tudor Group must have brought it all alive.
    Love the orange peel decorations too. It must have been so fragrant.

    Beautiful pictures, as ever, Rosie.

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    1. The Long Gallery was magical. I love the orange peel decorations in the chapel, they looked wonderful against the old wood and painted walls:)

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  3. Looked like a lovely visit Rosie and it's always nice to see these houses decorated for Christmas too. I'm intrigued by the Hommity pie though, sounds interesting. Bet it was good.
    Patricia x

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    1. The Homity pie was delicious. It's an open vegetable pie made with mostly leeks, potatoes and herbs:)

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  4. What a great place, it looks like the home of Mr Rochester in the Jane Eyre with Toby Stephens, forbidding on the outside, fascinating on the inside.

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    1. Yes, it was used for Thornfield Hall in that production of Jane Eyre:)

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  5. It looks lovely. I haven't been to Haddon at Christmas but I drove past the other day and thought I'd like to. Perhaps I'll make it next year!

    It sounds like you had a lovely day out with your friends.

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    1. I think there are events until 19th December this year if you have the time! It was lovely to see our friends again:)

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  6. Haddon is on our "to do" list.Sounds like a great way to spend the day with friends.

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    1. It is well worth a visit when you are next in that area:)

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  7. I must show this post to my mum, she is called Dorothy Vernon, so too my grandmother.

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    1. I didn't take a photo of Dorothy's bridge. What a wonderful historic name to have:)

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  8. And we had a wonderful, wonderful time. It looks gorgeous decorated for Christmas xxxx

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    1. I thought of you when we were in the kitchens as I knew you'd enjoyed that so much:)

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  9. It looks gorgeous. I love the combinations of some modern decorations with the older styles. Jx

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    1. That is what I liked too, Jan and those black decorations were on sale in the shop as well:)

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  10. What a wonderful way to spend the day! The food sounds delicious and the decorations give it such a festive feel. x

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    1. The food was delicious, Simone but so filling, I confess I had to leave a little of the pie and I don't like to waste food:)

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  11. I've really enjoyed visiting both Sudbury Hall in your previous post and Haddon Hall in this one, they are both looking very festive in different ways. You do live in a lovely part of the country. Mx

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    1. Thanks, glad you enjoyed the visits, Sudbury is closer to us here than Haddon but that too is reached quite easily in just over an hour via some wonderful countryside:)

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  12. Replies
    1. Hi Tammy, thank you for visiting - glad you like the photos:)

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  13. Great photos Rosie. Thanks for sharing your visit.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed your virtual visit, Marie:)

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  14. Wow Rosie...I love this place! I want to visit it one day. I love the simple and natural decorations once again. It made me smile to see them since I was saving two older manderine oranges to use in a garland I am going to make but DH ate them today. He did not know I wanted to save them and ate them before starting on the new crate. :-)

    Hugs from Holland ~
    Heidi

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    1. I too loved those natural decorations with the split oranges. Hope you manage to make some as they look so pretty:)

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  15. I love those decorations, especially the oranges. Sounds like you had a great day out! Suzy x

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    1. We had a super day out, Suzy. A lovely festive day with friends:)

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  16. Hello dear. It has been delightful visiting you throughout this year. Thank you for your visits and for the time you took to leave us comments here too. We look forward very much to more time shared in 2013! and here is wishing it to be a peaceful, healthy and happy new year. Love Darcy, Bingley and Helen xxx

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    1. I'm always thrilled when you call by and leave your lovely comments. Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New year:)

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  17. Lovely to see these photos, I'd intended going to Haddon this year but my son was away visiting various family and friends using my car so had no way of getting there. Maybe next year!

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    1. It was very crowded, Rowan but such a lovely atmosphere, especially in the chapel and long gallery. Thought about you and Diane whilst we were there:)

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