Features
Osborne House
CUNARD'S majestic new liner Queen Victoria may have sailed out of Southampton earlier this week but the Victorian Christmas celebrations are still going strong at her namesake's beloved home on the Isle of Wight.
Osborne House - where Queen Victoria spent most of her later life - is inviting guests to experience a Victorian Christmas with festive guided tours around the beautifully decorated house and gardens.
Visitors will learn how the Victorians influenced our Christmas celebrations, introducing many
of our seasonal traditions including Christmas trees and exchanging cards.
Prince Albert decorated the royal Christmas trees personally with sweets and candles, which were lit on Christmas Eve
for the exchanging of
presents and then again on Christmas Day - a
tradition Queen Victoria continued at Osborne House and which is still observed today.
Colourful trees decorated in Prince Albert's style, garlands of dried herbs, ferns and floral arrangements will provide an atmospheric backdrop for visitors to the royal
residence in the run up
to Christmas this year.
Expert guides will be giving an insight into the festivities enjoyed in the royal household above and below stairs while costumed characters will add to the authenticity.
In the dining room, Queen Victoria's table and sideboard will be groaning with sweet treats from wobbling jellies and elaborate cakes to intricate confections copied from photographs taken in the 1890s. Real gifts given to Queen Victoria by her family will also be on display.
Tours last an hour and can be combined with a stroll through Osborne's wonderful grounds.
Admission: £9.80 adults, £7.40 concessions, £4.90 for children and £24.50 for a family ticket.
Guided Victorian Christmas tours take place from 10am-4pm, Wednesdays - Sundays until January 6 (except December 24-26 and January 1.)
Booking is recommended, call 01983 200022 or visit www.englishheritage.org.uk/osbornehouse
12:13pm Friday 14th December 2007
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
