A Country Christmas
Fancy a peek behind the scenes at a country estate? Farmer’s daughter Emma Manners, 11th Duchess of Rutland, takes us inside her family home at Christmas
The place I call home is Belvoir Castle, a fairy-tale estate in Leicestershire. The festive season here is always a highlight. Every year we have a theme, and this year it’s Cinderella. I work closely with my decoratordesigner, Ray, to create an enchanted wonderland, including a Santa’s grotto, where Father Christmas hands out gifts to children. I wrap hundreds of presents every year. We’re open to the public right up to Christmas, and the planning starts almost as soon as the decorations are dismantled.
Decorating the castle is a real joy. We have 75 Christmas trees, and the tallest is usually around 14ft. I keep our most precious ornaments for the tree in our sitting room, and we always have a nativity scene. We have 200 or so rooms, so games of hide-and-seek can take a while! For me, Christmas has always been a magical family experience. I was born Emma Watkins, a farmer’s daughter from the Welsh borders, something I write about in my book, The Accidental Duchess.
I had the happiest of childhoods, in a farmhouse with an off-centre front door, and my mother, Roma, was a wonderful cook. The Christmas table was laid with gleaming silver and sparkling glass, we’d feast on turkey with all the extras, and everyone would sing or play an instrument. Now, at Belvoir Castle, I always have my family rituals in mind as I prepare for Christmas on a much larger scale, incorporating my husband David’s family traditions as well.
I met David, son of the 10th Duke of Rutland, at a dinner party in London. I’d arrived with a crumpled dress and he showed me where to find an iron, though he confessed he was hopeless at ironing and always got someone else to do it! I fell for his easy manner and, in 1992, when I was 29, I married him, wearing the Rutland tiara, which arrived from London under armed guard.
When David’s father died, seven years later, we moved into Belvoir Castle, his ancestral home. On Christmas Eve, we go on a shoot, followed by champagne and canapés, and a light supper of oysters and other seafood, then an early night. Our five children – three girls and two boys – are grown up now, but they still have stockings on Christmas morning – and so do their partners and friends who join us. I usually find myself filling up to 30 stockings!
Our family Christmas Day
After breakfast of baked ham and eggs, we go to the service at Bottesford church, where there are many family tombs. Back at the house, there is last-minute panic as people fly around wrapp
