Let There Be Light!

Nicola here. At this time of year when the evenings are long and dark and the days are short there is nothing that I enjoy more than seeing a light show. If there is snow (or at least a hard frost!) and stars sparkling overhead that’s an added bonus. Perhaps its’ a throwback to the distant ancestors who lit up this time of year with a number of fire festivals: Samhain, Halloween, All Souls and Guy Fawkes Night, all with bonfires and lanterns. The precursor of Christmas lights were the candles that German families would attach to the branches of trees with wax and pins as far back as the 17^th century (fire hazard alert!) A hundred years later they had developed candle holders and glass balls for the candles and the tradition of the Christmas tree lights spread across Europe. The advent of electricity, of course, meant that we could all go wild with our lights if we wanted, both inside and outside!

It was a huge treat for me to go the Christmas Lights at Cotehele Manor gardens in Cornwall this year. Cotehele is a Tudor house with glorious gardens and a fascinating history. The Cotehele Christmas Garland is a tradition dating back to last century. Normally it adorns the Great Hall of the Manor House. The flowers for the garland are grown in the gardens from seeds sown in early spring. The plants include purple and blue statice and yellow helychrysum.

The flowers are picked in the summer, each individual stem is stripped of leaves and then they are hung up in the potting shed to dry. Construction of the garland begins in November using a sixty foot long rope which is first wrapped in evergreen foliage. Between 15 and 30 thousand flowers are then placed among the greenery and the huge garland is hung in swags across the Great Hall. It sounds an amazing creation and I wish I could have seen it but this year, of course, things are different. The house was closed and so the National Trust had had the brilliant idea to bring the decorations outside.

When we arrived, we had a hot chocolate in the café whilst we waited for dusk to fall in order to see the lights at their best. It was a delicious way to start the tour! The route into the gardens leads first through the main gateway into what is called the Hall Court. Here the arched roof was filled with the dry flowers that had been collected in the summer to make the garland. It was incredibly effective and as they were all yellow and white, very bright and festive.

Many of the other archways were decorated with Christmas foliage as well and the chapel was
illuminated to look particularly bright and lovely. Although we couldn’t go inside the house, the door of the Great Hall was ajar and we could peek inside (like peasants of old!) to see the Christmas tree and the lights. The route then took us through into the gardens and orchards where all the trees and ponds were lit with Christmas lights and decorated with ornaments. My favourite part was the terrace where they had created a huge ceramic Christmas bauble representing all the flowers that normally go into the garland.

Cotehele is a particularly interesting house because by the Georgian period the Edgcumbe family, who owned it, had moved out to a bigger house down the river Tamar and had deliberately turned it into an antiquarian home. All the family’s old armour and tapestries and outdated furniture was sent there to create a house that was consciously Tudor. They would then take visitors on boat trips up the river to visit the “old house”! King George III and Queen Charlotte visited in 1789 and wrote in her diary: “It (the house) consists of a hall full of Old armour and swords and Old Carved Chairs… the seats are made of priests vestments…. We eat off the family pewter and use silver knives, forks and spoons that have been in the family for time immemorial…”

There is also a wonderful description of Christmas in the Great Hall in the Victorian era: “Ample justice was done to the roast beef and plum pudding (eaten together as was the custom) and the Rector having said grace and the singers having taken their places at the bottom of the hall, the hot punch was ladled out… The tenants all gradually retired and ridden off by moonlight down the steep hill – some of them with a jovial recklessness to the risk of their necks…” It was to be hoped that there were no Christmas accidents that year!

Celebrating with garlands and lights is a lovely way to bring brightness into these long, sometimes dark days, and for us, seeing the beautiful house and gardens decorated this way really lifted the spirits. As we all approach the festive season, do you celebrate with lights, either inside or outside the house, or at one of the popular outdoor light events? And will you be looking up to the skies on this Winter Solstice night to see the bright light of the Jupiter and Saturn conjunction?

Comments

[Kathy Lynn Emerson]

I love just being able to imagine it. Cothele is one of my favorite Tudor houses.

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you very much, Kathy Lynn. It is such a special place, isn't it. It felt quite magical to see it all lit up with the Christmas lights.

[Christina Courtenay]

That sounds wonderful, Nicola - I long to go there now! Will have to try and go next year to see this. And yes, I love putting twinkling lights everywhere, so festive!

[Mary Jo Putney]

I've never even heard of Cotehele I don't even know how it would be pronounced) but now I want to visit there at Christmas! They've done a lovely job of creating a beautiful pandemic year substitute for the usual display. Creativity meets the plague challenge, and wins!

[Nicola Cornick]

Oh, it is so pretty to have the lights everywhere isn't it! I think it really lifts the spirits and makes you feel festive.
I hope you can get to Cotehele next year and see the garland and the lights! I'm planning a return visit too.

[Nicola Cornick]

It's pronounced Coatheel, Mary Jo - I've been saying it wrong for years as I thought it was Coatheely! That's such a lovely way of expressing it: "Creativity meets the plague challenge and wins." Yes! And long may it continue to do so.

[Sue McCormick]

Thank you for another virtual tour, the only way I'm traveling anymore. Even if there weren't Covid-19 to contend with!

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

[Kareni]

Nicola, thank you for the trip to Cotehele. I admit to liking that ceramic bauble, too! We have abundant lights here: oil lamps, candles, battery operated flickering candles, and a string of lights in a colored Murano glass vase. My husband likes his ambiance, and the lights brighten grey days.

[Jeanne Behnke]

I loved the description and pictures of your tour. Beautiful! I put lights everywhere - color or white twinkle - I just love the effect. I also have a little lit up village. I definitely want to see the Jupiter - Saturn meeting this evening and hope I don't miss it!

[Anne Gracie]

Lovely post, Nicola. Would love to go to Cotehele one day and see the flower garlands. They sound beautiful. I don't do a big light thing — my decorations are more on the minimalist side of things, but I do like to see the Christmas light displays at night as I drive around the city.

[Nicola Cornick]

I'm so happy that you enjoyed it, Sue! Thank you.

[Nicola Cornick]

Kareni, that sounds like a very lovely mixture of light effects. I particularly like the sound of the string of lights in the Murano glass case. Gorgeous!

[Nicola Cornick]

A little lit up village sounds absolutely gorgeous, Jeanne!

I hope you got to see the planet conjunction. It was so cloudy and wet here there was no chance but I have loved the pictures.

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Anne, yes, I do love admiring people's light displays as I drive around. Some are very imaginative. In our village there have been some beautiful lights this year. I think it cheers people up to see them.

[Anne H]

Cotehele sounds like a lovely place to tour. I'd love to see the flower garlands.
I used to put many strings of lights on a large Christmas tree, but am not putting it up this year. My daughter has put up a small 4 foot tree instead. As she just finished her last final, she's so far just brought it in from the garage and put it up and still has to hang any lights or decorations.
I was looking forward to seeing the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn just after dusk yesterday, but it was cloudy.
Oh well....a friend and colleague who lives in a nearby community has been posting good photos in the leadup to the winter solstice and there may be some clear evenings in the near future. This summer, I was able to see Comet Neowise with binoculars and with the naked eye, but it was cloudy on the evenings when it approached Earth most closely.

[Constance]

Having seen Cotehele one very hot August day, I loved being able to think of it on a cold holiday tour! Thanks so much, Nicola! Last year, we visited friends in Maine and went to the annual holiday light show at the botanical gardens in Boothbay Harbor- I cannot remember how many lights are used or how long it takes them to put it together -but I well remember how beautiful it was to wander through the gardens and see trees wound with lights, even lights under the ice in small ponds, and most especially, a laburnum alley created from hanging strands of golden lights set up in an arbor! I am not fond of cold weather, but I didn’t even notice the below-freezing temps during the walk!

[Karin]

It looks gorgeous, what a wonderful holiday outing! When I was young, every Christmas our family used to be invited for dinner with some German neighbors who kept the tradition of lighted candles on the tree. There would be a roast goose for dinner, which I never got to eat anywhere else, and needless to say my brother and I were fascinated by the candles. If I remember correctly, there were special little holders which clasped onto a branch and kept the candle upright.

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Anne, yes it was the same here with the conjunction, unfortunately, but I have enjoyed looking at the lovely pictures. Wasn't it spectacular seeing Comet Neowise? I do love these heavenly experiences. They are very uplifting.

[Nicola Cornick]

Oh, how wonderful, Constance. I'd love to see Cotehele in the summer, both inside the house and also the flower gardens. Maybe next year! Your trip to the botanical gardens sounds absolutely beautiful. What a pleasure!

[Nicola Cornick]

That's fascinating about the candles on the tree, Karin. I've never seen a tree with actual candles. I think I'd be quite anxious about the fire risk!