Christmas at Castle Fraser

Transcript

Alice: I'm Alice, I'm the Visitor Services Manager for the National Trust for Scotland at Castle Fraser.

We decorate our rooms with historically accurate decorations, so there's no tinsel in sight! Our Christmas isn't something we've just bought off a shelf; it's not been bought in. It's all been made by our staff and volunteers, and this has been planned for the entire year, so the garden team have been planting things that we need and drying the flowers from the summer, which are then used in the garlands in the dining room, and I think it's such a team effort. The fact that all our volunteers can get involved as well makes it a really interesting event, and it's going to be so different to everywhere else.

Ruth: My name is Ruth Wardle. I'm the Head Gardener here at the National Trust for Scotland's Castle Fraser.

For the Christmas event, we grow all the cut flowers that we dry, so at the beginning of the year, we get our seed catalogues out, and we start planning and preparing with the castle staff - we all work together - on their ideas, so it starts very, very early, and everything grows through the summer, and then we collect and dry and then we bring them down for the castle staff to use. I find it quite emotional to see something that we've grown and we've taken care of and the passion and dedication that we all have, and it's just lovely that we all work together over the year to do this.

It's a real celebration of the garden inside the castle, and it's just lovely.

Jo: I'm Jo Riley, and I look after the collections at Castle Fraser for the National Trust for Scotland.

Christmas at Castle Fraser really started from a research project I did, which was to research how Christmas could be installed in historic properties with integrity so that it was specific to the period of the property and told some history and some social history about how Christmas has evolved in Scotland. It works really well at Castle Fraser because the castle isn't set in one time period, so we have rooms that date back to the 17th century and rooms that are in the Georgian period and the Victorian period and also, latterly, in the early 20th century, so we've been able to explore Christmas through different time periods.

To bring all these natural materials into the castle, we have to consider the collections. They can obviously attract a lot of pests and have to be very dry. The gardeners help me prepare these, and we work togetherto make sure everything is safe before it comes into the building.

Alice: If you're a National Trust for Scotland member, you can see the decorations for free. You don't need to bookto see the castle dressed for Christmas. All you need to do is check our website for the opening times.

We're open Friday, through to Monday, 10:30am–3pm.