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Mottisfont – Dressed for Christmas as Cinderella

Posted on November 25, 2025 by SteveDecember 1, 2025

25th November 2025

We have been decidedly recalcitrant this year in regard to taking day trips, allowing the weeks to slip by without venturing far. Now that Christmas is just around the corner and National Trust houses are being dressed for the festive season, there was finally no excuse for not making a trip. Our usual local NT site, Waddesdon Manor, has unfortunately priced itself out of our range. It was charging an eye-watering £15.50 just for NT members to enter the grounds.

So, instead, we made the wise decision to take a trip down to Mottisfont. They are well-known for always delivering a truly imaginative and immersive themed dressing of their house, and this year’s theme was no exception, centring on the classic fairytale Cinderella.

The day itself was dry but carried a definite winter chill. Despite it being an early weekday, the car park was surprisingly full—a testament to the site’s popularity. We arrived in time for a quick, early lunch before heading into the main event: a tour around the house.

The dressing for the Cinderella theme was cleverly decorated in true fairytale style. The various rooms brought scenes from the fairytale to life, all tied together by the motif of countless little mice (rodents, as the one room steward put it). They were playfully hidden in the decorations for children (and sharp-eyed adults!) to find and count. We saw glittering glass slippers, ballgowns, and imaginative recreations of the scullery and the Fairy Godmother’s magic. R claimed one mouse looked a tad hamstery!

Mottisfont Garden

Following the house tour, we bundled up for a walk along the river, following the special ‘Cinders’ trail marked out in the grounds. This led us on a circuit that included a visit to the beautiful Winter Garden. The walk offered a tranquil counterpoint to the house’s drama. Our final stop before heading home was the second-hand bookshop. Here even Steve, notoriously selective, came away triumphant with four excellent sci-fi books. The lady was very happy to sell us our 9 books!

Finally, we enjoyed a much-needed tea in the café, which was thankfully where I was reunited with my left-behind hat. The perfect warming end to a successful day trip.

Christmas at Mottisfont

Posted on December 11, 2023 by SteveDecember 29, 2023

11th December 2023

We decided our Tuesday outing would take place on Monday, the weather being the deciding factor. It was time to see a National Trust house dressed for winter. As members we resent paying to see a dressed NT house, so that was Waddesdon off the list. In recent years we have visited most Christmas dressed NT houses in the area, so decided to go a little further afield. We chose Mottisfont Abbey, it also seemed the rest of the world had also chosen this bright sunny day to visit. The car park was almost full, there was a thirty minute wait to get into the house. In hindsight, we should have had an early lunch or elevenses, and then visited the house, the queue certainly dissipated nearer 2pm.

The house had been decorated for Christmas along the theme of letters to Father Christmas and a visit to the North Pole (including a train!) with masses of trees and letters. Santas little helpers were busy organizing the presents to be delivered, along with lists of which children had been naughty or nice. Seems Stephen had been naughty. I loved the boys room, with a wigwam tent in the middle of the floor silhouetting the boys as they plotted to wait up and see Father C, and an electric model train (R thought “0” guage? LGB?) circling the room.

The winter garden was worth a visit. The walk along the river was alas closed. The ground was a little soggy underfoot, in fact we saw many flooded fields en route and masses of Old Man’s Beard in the hedges.

Mottisfont Dressed for Christmas

Posted on December 6, 2017 by SteveDecember 28, 2019

Instead of visiting Waddesdon for a Christmas spectacle, we decided to visit Mottisfont. There was a special Kaffe Fassett display on, so Rosemary was interested in going. We would also get to see the house dressed for Christmas.

We arrived and headed straight to the house to see the exhibition and house dressing. Not quite to the scale of Waddesdon Manor, but still very good to look at. The Kaffe Fassett show covered four rooms and had a lovely embroidered chair, pullovers and lots of patchwork quilts. Incredible work, though you could see the work was done at speed and not always finished neatly.

We stopped for lunch in the stables, and then we went on a guided wetlands nature walk. It takes you through wetland woods areas where you are not allowed on your own . We learned that peat was dug here, and that lakes and navigation were also built to get the stone close to the construction site of the original Mottisfont abbey.

There was not much to be seen in the gloom of a cloudy dismal winter day, excepting that two kingfishers were spotted flying along the dykes.

We also learnt that the river fishing rights were owned by the National Trust, and that this is one of the most expensive trout fishing river in the UK, the River Test. The art of the dry fly tying was realised here. We saw some trout who became very active when some food was fed to them.

Back to the stables for tea, and then on home.

Joan & David in Surrey

Posted on October 21, 2017 by SteveDecember 16, 2017

Visited Joan & David, Rosemary’s aunt & uncle, for lunch. We went for a short walk to see the new wildlife park that was being created along the River Rye, very near them.

Hill Head and Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve

Posted on September 17, 2014 by SteveAugust 29, 2018

We took a trip down to Hill Head to have a look around Rosemary’s parents’ old retirement stomping ground. We watched the Oystercatchers, Turnstones and gulls feeding at low tide. Interesting watching the gulls dropping shellfish onto the stones in the hope they would break open. Tricky business as other birds were ready to pick up the remains.

Walked on over to the Osborne View for lunch. Ate outside in the searing heat. The place has much improved over the last few years.

Next we walked around the Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve, owned by Hampshire County Council. We walked the east side visiting all the hides. These are all relatively new, built in the last 10 years. Herons and duck were on display. There was excitement in the last hide when long yellow tailed tits or something like that were spotted.

Finally tea at the Haven cafe, and a final view of a hovercraft being tested.

My New lens

Posted on May 8, 2011 by SteveNovember 12, 2020

Trip down to Lee on Solent, lovely sunny day, and tried my new lens out on some people participating in aquatic sports. See the whole Lee on Solent, Hampshire gallery here.

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