A Rocking Christmas

It's a cold frosty day today. Minus 1.5 degrees when I got up this morning. Every where covered in a hore frost. Despite the cold we decided we'd have a day out and as Rockingham Castle is fairly close by and was open for it's Christmas event this week that's where we headed.

Rockingham castle is 900 years old! Commissioned by William the Conqueror and for 450 years it was a royal Castle followed by 450 years as a family home, belonging to the same family for all that time.
The castle sits on a the top of a hill with sweeping views all round the Welland Valley. From the Gardens you can see across five counties.

Henry VIIIth granted the Castle to the Watson family who have lived there ever since. During the Civil War the castle was a Royalist stronghold causing the family to loose much of their wealth. The castle was badly damaged by the Roundheads. Thirty feet of the long gallery was totally destroyed by shelling and was never rebuilt. The long Gallery has still the original 1800's maroon curtains and wallpaper. It's lit with three hugh Murano Venetian crystal glass chandelier.

Ancient Norman door arches and slit arrow windows survive century's of alterations and modernisation.

Views over five counties in the Welland Valley viewed from the gardens.

During the Victorian era Charles Dickens was a frequent visitor. His novel David Copperfield is dedicated to Sir Richard and Lady Lavinia Watson and much of the novel Bleak House was written while he was a guest in the house.

The house was opened this week as a Christmas event. Staff were dressed in the costumes of 1849 and the rooms dressed for Christmas. The dinning room is all set up for a banquet, 1849 style with some magnificent silver center pieces.

It's been sunshine all day so we walked around the gardens first before the sun moved and sent them into shadow.

The gardens stretch around two sides of the house and the most impressive part is the 'Elephant' hedge. A double hedge of clipped Yews

The Kitchens are set for a magnificent Christmas feast 1849 style. Not a kitchen I would relish working in. Very labour intensive.

By the time we emerged from the castle grounds the sun was setting over the valley and the frost was returning covering the grass with a hore frost.