Browse Sections

• Magazine 
• Food and drink

Festive decor tips from a stately source

Angela Kelly
26/11/2008

PATRICK Swan has some good advice for creating your own natural Christmas decorations – plan early.

"When you’re planting in your garden, don’t just keep summer flowering in mind – think about the winter as well and what will look good then and be useful," he advised.

Patrick, 42, knows what he’s talking about. He has worked at Arley Hall in Northwich, Cheshire, in charge of its ornate gardens, for the past seven years, and before that was a gardener at Walshingham Abbey in Norfolk.

He now lives in a Victorian cottage on the 2,000-acre estate and the Arley Hall gardens are recognised as among the finest in Britain.

As we chat, Cheshire ladies from the National Association of Flower Arranging Societies (NAFAS) are preparing to enter the popular stately home to make their wonderful Christmas decorations.

"It’s a really marvellous site," said Patrick. "We supply the foliage from the gardens and they bring in a variety of tropical and other flowers and all sorts of things and then spend the week twisting bits of wire and creating individually themed public rooms.

"Each room looks amazing – some with traditional displays and others with more modern ones, but all different. When you go in as they’re working it’s like a bomb site, and then suddenly it’s all cleared away and these marvellous rooms result."

While most of us would struggle to create quite such grand designs – and probably wouldn’t have the magnificent backdrop in which to display them – Patrick is confident that we can all use Nature’s best to enhance our homes and to reflect the Christmas spirit.

But it’s that forward planning that can be important. "Yes, it is worth looking ahead and considering what might give pleasure in the winter and be useful at Christmas," he added.

"Traditional evergreens like holly and variegated spotted laurel are good to use, and the shrub Cotoneaster has lovely red berries and shiny green leaves in the autumn and winter that look really nice in the house," he said.

He also suggests early planting of Cornus Alba – red-barked dogwood – which features bright red stems when the leaves drop off and which is ideal for making a seasonal arrangement.

"That really adds colour," he said.

Patrick also says that blue spruce Abies Koreana not only brings colour to the garden but its Christmas-tree like spiky branches and blue-coloured cones are ideal to complement festive décor.

Whether or not you have useful items growing in your garden, Patrick suggests that you can take advantage of the wealth of plants and shrubs growing wild.

"Mistletoe is always popular at Christmas and you can find this growing in old orchards or on poplar trees. And tree ivy has big berries if you look for it in woodland areas," he said.

In fact, there are plenty of public places where attractive berries, wild rose hips, cones and twigs can be gathered to use at home.

"Some people just look for interestingly shaped twigs," he said. "These can be really effective if they’re hung with fruit like apples. I think it’s the foliage that can make a lovely Christmas arrangement."

As for Patrick’s own home, "I love to put a swag on the fireplace and have really traditional-looking decoration. I like a live Christmas tree, too – it’s really got to smell like Christmas, hasn’t it?"

Arley Hall’s Christmas Floral Extravaganza runs until December 7. Call 01565 777353 or visit www.arleyhallandgardens.com.