insideKENT Magazine Issue 81 - December 2018 | Page 70

CHRISTMAS
BEHIND THE SCENES AT CHRISTMAS AT
Hever Castle & Gardens
PHOTOS © HEVER CASTLE & GARDENS
YOU MIGHT BE A PLANNER OR A LAST MINUTE BUYER, BUT CHANCES ARE YOU
WON’T BE THINKING ABOUT CHRISTMAS MORE THAN A YEAR IN ADVANCE.
But
at Hever Castle & Gardens it takes 13
Christmas
months to plan the Christmas activities for
visitors, so preparation for December 2018
started in November 2017. It is an all-hands-
on-deck affair with staff members from retail,
maintenance, housekeeping, visitor services,
marketing and gardening all involved.
The first thing to be decided is the theme
for the following year (before the current
Christmas event has started!). In 2018, the
main theme will be Christmas stories and
the festive trail in the grounds will be Charles
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Event and programming assistant,
Caz Church, starts working on props in
January and continues working on them
throughout the year. Everything is made in
house. All the contractors from Father
Christmas to the fairground attractions and
those who provide fake snow are confirmed
by the end of January.
With the theme to work with and the
debrief done, retail manager, Ashley Collins,
attends the main Christmas trade fairs; one
in Birmingham and the biggest one in the
world, Christmas World in Frankfurt in
January. He looks for new stock for the Hever
Shop as well as any additions needed for the
decorations in the Castle.
When Ashley returns from the fairs he
only has a few weeks to plan what he would
like to order, as he needs to confirm his stock
requirements by the end of February for
arrival from the first week of September.
Adding the extra Christmas stock to the
system is a big job for those working in the
Hever Shop. Usually there are 3,000 items at
one time sold in the shop – Christmas adds
an extra 1,500.
In May and June, meetings take place
with heads of departments for more detailed
planning of the event including any
additional storytellers, where any extra food
provision is needed as well as marketing
materials.
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Marketing starts by the August bank
holiday weekend and annual members can
start booking in September with non-
members two weeks later.
September is the time to start thinking
about the decoration of the Castle. As items
arrive, everything is grouped together in
terms of the room it will go in and all the
lights are checked. On average each tree
has a minimum of 200 lights on them or
candle lights.
Head gardener, Neil Miller, puts in the
order for trees in October for the Castle, the
bed and breakfast, grotto and Christmas trail.
Sixty per cent of the trees are from Kentish
suppliers with the rest from the UK. Each
year, 50-100 small Christmas trees are planted
on the Estate so in about 10 year’s time the
site will be more sustainable.
The second week of November the trees
come in. They have to last 6-8 weeks so they
are put in at the last minute and well watered
(especially the ones near the open fires). Some
of them have to be replaced and are done
just before Christmas.
Some of the fake snow has to go in
before certain trees are put in. The dressing
of the snow takes about a week with three
contractors on site for three or four days.
It takes around 10 people two days
to dress the Castle for Christmas. In-house
florist, Pamela Brise, themes the flowers
around the rooms.
The gardening team is responsible for
decorating the drop-in Father Christmas
grotto which is about a week’s worth of work
for three people. They also restock the
courtyard shop and make wreaths to be sold.
Extra operations staff are drafted in every
day from the second week of November
doing jobs such as building the grotto and
putting together the Christmas trail (which
is different every year).
All in all, it’s quite a production for the
most wonderful time of the year!
ABOUT THE EVENT THIS YEAR:
Rooms of the Castle will be beautifully
decorated and themed around stories
including The Nutcracker, The Tailor of
Gloucester and ‘Twas the Night Before
Christmas with twinkling lights and
welcoming log fires.
Outside in the stunning grounds, wrap
up warm and discover the festive interactive
trail themed around Charles Dickens’ classic
novel A Christmas Carol. As dusk falls, the
gardens are illuminated with up-lighting
and colour washes.
Revel in the Christmas spirit at Hever
Castle Wednesdays to Sundays from 24th
November and daily from 10th to 24th
December.
Each weekend and daily from selected
dates ride the carousel and enjoy vintage
fairground stalls (£1 per go), roast chestnuts
for sale and the chance to meet characters
along the trail including Bob Cratchit and
Scrooge and pose for a picture with a husky
(suggested £2 donation towards Siberian
Husky Welfare Association).
Twilight Christmas and pre-booked
Father Christmas are now sold out but
children may still get the chance to meet
Father Christmas in the Toy Workshop as
part of the drop-in Father Christmas
offering on 8th, 9th, 15th, 16th, 20th, 21st,
22nd and 23rd December. Kids will have
the opportunity to visit him on a first come
first served basis and will receive an age-
appropriate gift. Tickets cost £8 per child
and can only be purchased in the grounds
on the day, at the Information Centre or
Courtyard Shop (admission tickets are
required for all members of the party).
www.hevercastle.co.uk