One of the joys of spending your holidays in the UK is rediscovering all that our countryside and coastlines have to offer. But there’s more than scenery and summertime fun. There’s the rich pageant of history and tradition. Wherever you have a UK holiday home, you’re sure to find some local traditions. And never more so than at Christmas.
If your holiday home is in Norfolk
Let’s start with the Royal Christmas at Sandringham
Norfolk is home to the Sandringham Estate, which has long been the home of the Royal Family’s Christmas celebrations. One might even call it a holiday home!
Occupied since the Elizabethan times, the estate was purchased by the Royals in 1862 for Edward VII and his future family, and the house was rebuilt between 1870 and 1900. It was the setting for the first Christmas broadcast in 1932 by Edward’s son and heir, George V, and the place of his death in 1936.
“Dear old Sandringham, the place I love better than anywhere else in the world”
The house was well loved by George VI, and then by his daughter Queen Elizabeth II - she would spend around 2 months each winter on the Sandringham Estate from Christmas, similarly to her predecessors. In 1957, she also broadcast her first televised Christmas message from Sandringham.
Today, King Charles and the Royal Family continue to spend Christmas in this sprawling Norfolk estate, continuing their traditions from afternoon tea to the German tradition of Heiligabend Bescherung - Christmas Eve presents.
Christmas as we know it in England is heavily influenced by the Royal Family, with many Victorian traditions like Christmas tree decorating and gift giving hailing from their Germanic roots and encouraged by Queen Victoria’s beloved husband, Prince Albert.
At the time of writing, it’s reported that The Prince and Princess of Wales will join the King and Queen, with other senior Royals, at Sandringham for Christmas 2024, and are expected to attend the annual Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church.
Plans are afoot for a grand celebration and the King is reportedly ‘delighted’ that the family will be together at this most poignant of Christmas times. It will see the family coming together at the end of a turbulent year for both the King and the Princess of Wales.
The Princess Royal and her husband, The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and and Mike and Zara Tindall are all expected to be there for the traditional walk to and from the church.
The Royals have their holiday home in Norfolk - and so could you
Norfolk is home to some of the finest coastlines and countryside in the country, which is why it’s well-loved by the Royals. It’s also home to Tingdene Caldecott Hall Country Park featuring an array of holiday homes and facilities.
Being at your holiday home in a woodland setting could prove interesting in December…
There’s an ancient European legend that states that animals can speak in human language on Christmas Eve. The myth may have its roots in paganism, much like Christmas itself, or it may come from the animals in the nativity bowing to Jesus at his birth. This legend appears in a variety of myths and tales across history and media, from “The Friendly Beasts” to a 1970’s American animation “The Night the Animals Talked”.
So, if come late December the animal kingdom can communicate with us in full and friendly conversation, it’s doubtless the animals who inhabit the wonderful woodlands around Caldecott Hall Country Park will be happy to tell you that it’s a really rather lovely spot for humans too.
If your holiday home is at Broadlands Park & MARINA in Suffolk…
find out about foliage and Frumenty from Suffolk, a county steeped in tradition
Tingdene Broadlands Park and Marina is the perfect spot for a Suffolk holiday home. A gateway to Suffolk’s treasures, including the lovely town of Southwold, it’s also ideally placed for exploring the Broads. And when it comes to Christmas, you can explore Suffolk’s history and traditions.
For starters there’s Frumenty. In fact this Suffolk dish probably wasn’t a ‘starter’. Frumenty was a sort of porridge enjoyed by many around the UK. In Suffolk, dishes of it would be left outside farmhouse doors for the ‘fairies’.
Another tradition was The Yule Log, the one that inspired one of our favourite Christmas treats. It was always lit from the charred remains of the previous year’s log, which had been carefully set aside for twelve months. The new log would be decorated with willow and holly (they’ve copied that for the cake) and lit on Christmas Eve.
Holly it seems, like ivy and mistletoe, was a traditional decoration for homes; It had to be brought in by a man and it wasn’t allowed indoors until Christmas Eve. You’ll be decorating your home, and your holiday home, a bit easier than that nowadays.
Tingdene Broadlands Park and Marina is the perfect spot for a Suffolk holiday home. A gateway to Suffolk’s treasures, including the lovely town of Southwold, it’s also ideally placed for exploring the Broads. And when it comes to Christmas, you can explore Suffolk’s history and traditions.
“Of course, many of our Christmas customs, such as feasting, yule logs and evergreen decorations, belonged originally to the winter solstice, a celebration of the moment when the days begin to lengthen again and life returns to the natural world.”
Turkeys are a main staple for many Christmas dinners around the UK, but did you know that they’re not actually from Turkey! Native to the Americas, they were called Turkeys due to Europeans mistaking them for African Guinea Fowl, often referred to as Turkey Fowl.
Turkeys were introduced to England during Tudor times - keep reading to find out more about that. Domestically raised in Norfolk and Suffolk, they were walked all the way to the market in London over a period of months!
Close to the Norfolk and Suffolk border, you’ll find an incredible landscape full of birds, but probably not turkeys…
Overlooking Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Carlton Marshes, an incredible nature reserve where you’ll find plenty of birdwatchers with their binoculars looking out for a variety of birds throughout the year, sits Waveney River Centre, a stunning setting for holiday lodges and the newly refurbished Waveney Inn on the Broads National Park.
If Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire is your holiday home location…
Haxey Hood in North Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is not without its Christmas traditions either. Take Haxey in North Lincolnshire for example.
Every year, on the Twelfth Day of Christmas, there’s an event that dates back to the fourteenth century. It seems that back then, the Lady de Mowbray lost her silk hood when she was out riding near Haxey. Thirteen farmworkers chased the wayward garment across the fields and indeed one of them caught it. He was too shy to hand it back to the Lady and asked one of the others to do it. The Lady thought this was rather touching and she gave thirteen acres of land on the proviso that the chasing of the ‘Haxey Hood’ was re-enacted every year.
The promise has been kept, and they still do it! It’s changed a bit though - nowadays the chase starts in a scrum, known as The Sway. And they don’t chase a silk hood, they chase a leather tube. Plus, they don’t give it back to a Lady - they take it to the pub…it has to be one of four pubs and they keep it until the next year.
Crying Christmas in Lincoln
Christmas also starts in Lincoln with Crying Christmas, an ancient ceremony dating back to at least the mid-sixteenth century. The ceremony features musicians, who recite a poem of 15 verses as they parade through the city, encouraging people to celebrate Christmas sensibly.
The parade stops every now and then to allow the Proclamation to be read. The date changes slightly every year as they try to make it happen on a weekday as close as possible to December 21st.
Tingdene Mablethorpe Park on the coast of Lincolnshire is well known as a superb holiday home location. People love its mix of modern caravans and traditional cedar chalets.
Redcar Beach is ideal for a holiday home
But dare you dip at Christmas?
They’re big on Christmas dips in these parts. In a tradition going back fifty years or more where hundreds of people brave the very, very, cold waters of the sea on Boxing Day at Redcar, along the coast at Saltburn, and Whitby.
Just an hour or so away at the legendary seaside resort of Scarborough, there’s a rather more land based Christmas tradition, dating back to the nineteenth century. Teams of Fishermen and Firemen compete in a game that, to the uninitiated, looks like a mash-up of football and rugby.
The tradition started after a fishing boat was lost at sea, in a terrible storm in 1893. Today the game continues and proceeds are donated to the Fishermen and Firemen Charity Fund. But not before the losing team members are dragged down to the sea and dunked in the icy waves. So it sort of ends like the Boxing Day swim too.
You don’t have to get wet, but you can see all of these traditional pursuits before heading back to your Christmas holiday home, where it’s very warm. And dry. And cosy…
Tingdene Redcar Beach is a holiday home location giving you all that’s best of Teesside’s seaside.
A holiday home on the Yorkshire Coast
Now we’re talking turkey
A holiday home at Tingdene South Shore gives you a get away set in eighteen acres of gorgeous North Yorkshire. You’re next door to the classic seaside resort of Bridlington. And if you want to talk Christmas traditions this is where you’ll find the big one.
Boynton Hall near Bridlington was rebuilt by William Strickland later in his life. Who he you ask? He was an adventurous chap who travelled to America in 1526, and supposedly whilst there he spoke with the natives and acquired six turkeys. He brought the birds home and built a big and successful turkey business and - you’ve guessed it - saw the turkey become a certain seasonal sensation.
So, if you’re having your Christmas turkey dinner at home, or in your holiday home - because you can - it might be because of William Strickland.
And finally…
When it comes to Christmas traditions, there’s no bigger favourite than Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’
Published in 1843. this little book has come to define so much of what we think about as ‘Christmas’. It’s a story that still has a resonance today.
And it has a very contemporary relevance when it comes to your UK holiday home.
Start with holidays past
Remember? All the time spent researching where to go. Balancing the budget and what you wanted to do, and what the kids wanted to do. Then came the decoding of the terms and conditions of the holiday you’ve booked. There was knowing, from bitter previous experience, the stress of airports and travel that was to come.
And then there was the unpredictability of actually arriving. The heat that sometimes got just too hot - or didn’t arrive at all. The room didn’t have quite the view you were expecting. And now came the post-pandemic changes to service and staffing.
Ok, there were no ghosts but it was all a bit scary.
Meet holidays present
Life has changed and we have different values. We’re post-Brexit, post-pandemic, determined to de-stress, and with a growing awareness of global warming and the need to go green. All of that adds up to the need to behave differently - to holiday differently. And fewer air miles, the more family-friendly approach is calling us. It’s calling us to have our own UK holiday homes.
It’s time to think about holidays of the future
It’s time to start a new tradition. Cut away the old ways and get away to your own UK holiday home at Christmas, or at any time of year. Make it the hub of your happy season. Get the family together and make the most of making memories.
From Suffolk to Norfolk, from Lincolnshire to Yorkshire, there are a wide variety holiday homes for sale to view now.
You don’t have to get into Scrooge mode to see the financial sense of investing in a holiday home that will define your downtime for the future. You will make returns - in more ways than one!
