Cousin Victoria emailed “As children we used to love staying at Tyntesfield for Christmas. Aunt Ursula loved having all the cousins to stay and it was all such fun!”

Ursula presided over Tyntesfield at its peak; Baroness Wraxall OBE, RRC, daughter of Baron Wenlock and Annie the daughter of Baronet Cunard. Maid of Honour to Queen Mary, the King and Queen attended her wedding to George Abraham Gibbs. Childhood in Africa, Australia and India; a nurse in France for over 3 years during the Great War and later President of Somerset British Red Cross. Ursula had experienced a lot in life and made sure Christmas at Tyntesfield was a special occasion for all.

Tyntesfield is once again celebrating “A Very Victorian Christmas” courtesy of the National Trust who have brought the season’s best loved traditions to life “with stockings full of festive family fun, traditional decorations, storytelling and games, to soak up the atmosphere as the Gibbs family and their servants prepare for the festivities.”

I was intrigued to to catch Country Christmas Special on BBC1 last week as “John Craven and the team are at Tyntesfield in Somerset, a stately pile that celebrates Christmas in high Victorian style.” For a while you can catch the whole episode on BBC iPlayer.

In case you can’t get it on iPlayer I have taken the liberty of posting a reduced edit of the bits most relevant to Tyntesfield here.