A Very British Christmas - Season 1 Episode 01- Castle Howard
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00:00Light, fancy baubles, tinsel and fairy lights. Job done.
00:06Unless you're decorating this, or this, or this.
00:14There are three things that hold Christmas up at Castle Howard.
00:16Chicken wire, glue gun sticks, and cable ties.
00:20One crack team of Christmas crafters are responsible for bringing the festive season
00:26Wow!
00:27Into some of Britain's best-loved buildings.
00:31The logistics is a little bit more than moving boxes of baubles around.
00:37For Dave.
00:37Safety first.
00:39Laura.
00:40Ta-da!
00:41Brian and the rest.
00:43Juliana, Eve, Theodora, your end down.
00:46Christmas is a full-time job.
00:48Always get there in the end, through panic or coffee or gin.
00:52This is the bit that no-one ever sees backstage.
00:55Top of the tree.
00:56Cute.
00:57Designer, an ex-theatre producer, Charlotte.
01:00How do we feel about buying a kilometre of green lights?
01:03And business partner, former costume designer, Adrian.
01:07If they'd been purchased at full price, it was over £7,000.
01:10Right.
01:10Okay.
01:11Eight years of Christmas installations just keep getting bigger.
01:15Well, it totally looks like it's not going to fit.
01:18Balder.
01:18I'm just worried about that statue.
01:20And riskier.
01:21Just stop!
01:22Just stop!
01:23Side-stepping priceless antiques and cautious clients.
01:30How can they make an armoury?
01:32Christmas.
01:32Christmas-y, yeah.
01:34The clock is ticking.
01:35Three, two, one.
01:37To doors opening.
01:39God, it's fabulous.
01:41For Christmas.
01:42Next team's ambition is...
01:45Not to break the team.
01:57It's January, and in Yorkshire's Castle Howard...
02:00Hello, Nina.
02:01Happy New Year.
02:03Adrian's already setting Team Christmas to work.
02:06Our first task is...
02:08Get rid of the tree.
02:13They've got just two days to dismantle what took a year to prepare.
02:20The tree, obviously, when we put it up,
02:23has a little bit more care and attention given to it.
02:26We're a little bit more forthright, dismantling him.
02:30It's a bit brutal.
02:33It doesn't look it now.
02:35But until yesterday, this place was a wonderland.
02:39Literally.
02:43Castle Howard last year was amazing.
02:46I'm really proud of it.
02:49For the last seven weeks,
02:50the magical world of Alice in Wonderland reigned supreme.
02:56Thousands of baubles, kilometres of tinsel and fairy lights
02:59and pure flights of fantasy
03:01delighted over 100,000 visitors.
03:09That's seven full Christmases we've now done for Castle Howard.
03:12Yep.
03:12How are we going to top it?
03:15It's going, it's going, it's going.
03:19Now they've got to start again.
03:21With ten months to design, build and install a new Christmas theme
03:27to out-sparkle Wonderland.
03:32So I'm being slightly obsessive about organisation
03:36because this box next year I know I'm going to want
03:40for the Emerald City.
03:42We're off to see The Wizard, Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
03:52Tin Man, Scarecrow, The Winged Monkeys.
03:55What's not to love?
03:57The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a firm festive favourite.
04:02Written over a century ago,
04:04the book is one of no less than 14 set in Oz.
04:07An instant hit, its film debut was nearly 30 years
04:12before Julie Garland and her ruby slippers
04:14entered the Emerald City.
04:17Countless adaptations still draw the crowds,
04:20but from the colour of Dorothy's slippers
04:22to the number of witches,
04:24every one is slightly different.
04:30It's spring.
04:31Two miles from Castle Howard,
04:35Charlotte and Adrian's Christmas HQ
04:37is bursting with baubles, fairy lights
04:40and half a million fake flowers.
04:44For Laura in floristry, Chippy Brian,
04:48model maker Mark and the rest of the team,
04:51the whirlwind of Christmas is already on the horizon.
04:54But before they get carried away...
04:57The illustrations that strike me the most
04:58are these ones here.
05:00The bosses have to decide which parts of Oz
05:03will land this Christmas.
05:05It's very hard, because people will come in thinking,
05:08first and foremost, about the film and Judy Garland.
05:11But we don't actually see Dorothy.
05:14Not at all.
05:14We might see her at the very end.
05:16At the very end.
05:16But it's almost like she's just moved,
05:18walked out of the room ahead of you.
05:19Yeah.
05:20It's the feel.
05:21Much of the story is uncontroversial.
05:24The biggie is...
05:25We've got to have a prairie house, right?
05:27A crashed prairie house.
05:28A crashed prairie house.
05:28But some parts have changed considerably since the original.
05:33In the book, the slippers are silver.
05:36Are we going to reference the ruby?
05:38Well, I think we should.
05:39At the end, she's going to arrive with...
05:41Glinda.
05:42Glinda, who is red.
05:45Because that's the other thing as well.
05:46Glinda is the good witch of the south in the book.
05:49She's not the good witch of the north.
05:51North, east, south and west.
05:53The book has four witches.
05:56It's a costume designer's dream.
05:59Because you know I made this investment.
06:01How many of them did you get?
06:02Three boxes.
06:03They are premium ostrich.
06:05If they'd been purchased at full price,
06:07it was over £7,000.
06:09Right.
06:09OK.
06:10So they're all going on the wicked witch of the west's dress
06:15in the room with the winged monkeys.
06:16And the fire.
06:17We might have to discuss whether the fire can be on
06:21in that room this year.
06:23This could go on all year.
06:25Except it can't.
06:28There's a house to decorate.
06:31This year, Castle Howard is the biggest of six properties
06:35getting the team Christmas makeover.
06:38A Baroque masterpiece with over 100 rooms
06:41lined with ancient statues and priceless paintings.
06:45The visitor comes up and they start to go on the route through.
06:50The next challenge is to work out how Oz fits into the splendour.
06:55This is the very beginning of the yellow brick road.
06:57It will travel right through the house as far as the Great Hall.
07:0217 rooms require full transformation
07:05without marking the floor or chipping the china.
07:09It will look like you've got two shop fronts.
07:12And they have depth and internal...
07:14They have depth so that we can dress the windows.
07:17On the route, there's not one, but two bathrooms.
07:20Two miles in the bar.
07:22Yeah.
07:22So scarecrow standing...
07:24On the loo?
07:25In front of the loo.
07:26The 100-foot-long antique passage
07:28to be turned into a field of poppies.
07:31And, of course, a tree 28 feet tall
07:35uncovered in literally thousands of baubles.
07:38This is the arrival in the Emerald City.
07:41Into the Emerald City.
07:42It will be a green tree.
07:44No other client that we're working for this year
07:46has any green decorations in their installations.
07:49It's a fine choice.
07:50It's a fine choice not to have green in your house.
07:57Just one thing, though.
07:58Castle Howard is open to the public all year round.
08:04So Christmas can't come early.
08:07Nothing can be installed until just before opening.
08:11Everything has to be put together down the road
08:14at Christmas HQ.
08:16All right.
08:22Up.
08:24It's summer.
08:25Tilt.
08:25Yeah.
08:25And everyone's downed tools to help Brian
08:28with the first of his grand designs.
08:31I sort of need to work out how we're going to assemble this.
08:33It didn't come with instructions, remember?
08:35He needs to know if he can carry it out of Christmas HQ
08:38and into the house.
08:40Push to me.
08:42That's it.
08:42Now it'll go down.
08:43Down.
08:46We are assembling the crashed prairie house
08:49that is going to be on the China landing
08:52at the top of the stairs as you come in.
08:55Everything is flat-packed,
08:57but some of it is heavier than we were expecting
09:01because the timber that we got in
09:04ended up being 15mm rather than the 6mm we'd sort of asked for.
09:10If it's too heavy, we'll have to have a rethink.
09:16Dorothy's house weighs nearly half a tonne,
09:21more than enough to flatten a witch.
09:23Her legs can stick out from under the porch.
09:25You can't have the legs hanging out that way,
09:27otherwise every time the wheelchairs come through,
09:29you'll run over your witch.
09:31But the problem isn't just weight.
09:34The others are convinced it's simply too big
09:37to manoeuvre through the house.
09:39Wow.
09:41At the end of the antique passage,
09:43we need to negotiate round a corner
09:46past some very expensive, very old statues.
09:50These panels are probably slightly too long
09:56to get round that corner.
09:58They're going to catch.
10:01I don't want to cause literally thousands of pounds worth of damage
10:04to Roman statues that I can't replace.
10:08Castle Howard has seen more than 300 Christmases come and go.
10:25Not just an impressive building,
10:27but a home to nine generations of the Howards.
10:31Most recently, Nick and his family.
10:33This was what the south-east wing looked like.
10:37It had no roof on it.
10:38But it hasn't always looked as grand as it does now.
10:41The room we're in at the moment looked like this as well.
10:44I mean, the whole of this section looked like that.
10:47A great fire in November 1940
10:49destroyed huge sections of the building,
10:52making them unsafe and uninhabitable.
10:55So when you were growing up,
10:56the dome wasn't even on the house?
10:58There was no dome.
10:59Visitor attraction director Abby
11:01is hearing how the family began funding the renovations.
11:05My father was the person who started the restoration.
11:08He opened the house in 1952 for the first time.
11:11And people came in large quantities.
11:13Very interestingly, I was looking at a page
11:15from a house-opening diary from 1963 the other day.
11:21And it was rather lovely.
11:23It was all in my mother's handwriting.
11:25And my father had added the weather at the time.
11:28Then the number of visitors who'd come.
11:30And it was an August bankology.
11:32Do you remember how many?
11:33How many did it say?
11:35It tells you.
11:35And the numbers aren't that different to today.
11:38So really, we're still doing the same thing today.
11:40We're still doing the same thing.
11:41That he started in the 50s.
11:43That we started.
11:43And still generating income
11:45in order to restore rooms of this amazing place.
11:48He and my mother at that stage
11:50were much more hands-on than we are now.
11:52I mean, she quite often was sitting there
11:54at the ticket desk, selling the tickets and so on.
11:56I'd say you're still pretty hands-on, though.
11:58We get you involved in all sorts.
12:00Yes, I would find it very hard not to be, I must think.
12:04Even though many areas remain out of bounds,
12:10slowly, rooms are being returned to their former glory.
12:14But the cost is astronomical.
12:18Along with staff, maintenance
12:19and electricity bills of a grand a day,
12:22this place would be boarded up
12:24if it weren't for the help of the paying public.
12:27And at Christmas?
12:28Christmas.
12:28We're not talking about 1,000 people here or there, are we?
12:30No, we're not.
12:31100,000 people coming through your home.
12:33It's an incredibly important part of the year for us
12:36because, I mean, a third of our visitors
12:37each year come at Christmas.
12:39It's lovely watching them.
12:41At Christmas, one of the things I do like to do
12:43is to go around and just look at the faces of the children
12:46and the grown-ups as they're looking at us
12:48and as they come into each room.
12:51Each room is a nice new surprise
12:53and that's because of the work that Charlotte and Adrian do
12:57in designing a completely new look each year.
13:01No pressure then.
13:03And the countdown is on.
13:05What's the order deadline this year for Christmas product?
13:07Christmas this year needs to be bigger and better than ever.
13:11So Charlotte and Adrian are planning a wonderful land of Oz
13:14in all its Technicolor glory.
13:17Check this out.
13:18What do you think of this potato, right?
13:20They're at one of Britain's biggest Christmas expos
13:23at Birmingham's NEC in search of decorations.
13:26Well, we do always try and reuse as much as we can
13:31but every year, obviously, there is always going to be something we need new.
13:35What do you think, ruby slipper versus silver?
13:37So the problem is we do set ourselves some huge challenges.
13:41Yep.
13:43Today's challenge is finding enough of one very important colour.
13:46So it's sort of a take on our traditional Christmas colours,
13:52which is red and gold,
13:53but for next year, maroon is very trendy on interiors.
13:57Sadly, it's not maroon.
14:00The Emerald City appears twice.
14:01The giant Christmas tree, we might just go emerald.
14:05OK.
14:06But it's going to take a lot of...
14:07A lot of baubles.
14:08And a lot means 3,000.
14:12I mean, hopefully we'll be able to find some in an emerald green.
14:17Britain's first baubles came from Germany,
14:20imported by the Victorians.
14:22Made from blown glass, they were worth a small fortune.
14:25Don't we need a Harlequin egg?
14:27Now mass-produced, they're relatively cheap.
14:30But decorating the tree alone will cost upwards of five grand.
14:33I think that's green enough, no?
14:36If there's any in emerald green.
14:39There's some green ones hanging up there, actually.
14:43This is our couture Christmas.
14:46Couture Christmas.
14:47Couture Christmas, very good.
14:49So we've then added in this gorgeous emerald.
14:52Oh, my God.
14:53Which I think would be perfect.
14:55Perfect.
14:58Some great emerald green over there.
15:00And the emerald drops.
15:04And that one.
15:05I've done that one.
15:05I've done that one.
15:07Baubles accounted for, witches are back on the agenda.
15:11She hasn't got an actual name, has she?
15:13Goodwitch of the North.
15:15No.
15:15Glinda's actually...
15:16Glinda's...
15:16Goodwitch of the South.
15:17Goodwitch of the South.
15:18This one's a good excuse for something other than green.
15:22So if you can imagine this as an actual figure,
15:25and this will be like her skirts.
15:27So am I doing a fairy dress tree with all the bling?
15:31Yeah.
15:31Okay.
15:32Yeah.
15:39August.
15:40Two months until installation.
15:43At Christmas HQ, the team are tackling the bespoke elements of the build.
15:47Bigger and better is the mantra.
15:50And with Brian making a start on the Emerald City marketplace, he's focusing on bigger.
15:56So it's going to be that height.
15:58And it's going to be 40 foot long, which is...
16:01The garages, the woodwork shop, Dave's metal workshop, that entire length.
16:14In floristry, Laura's also going big for the munchkin displays.
16:19We're going for an asymmetrical, slightly bonkers look.
16:25Sometimes less is more in her design, or sometimes more is more.
16:30There we are.
16:32Only Mark seems to have missed the memo.
16:35Building a model of the entire Land of Oz in miniature.
16:39What I'm not confident about is the buildings we're going to put on it.
16:45I think as with a lot of these things, while you're making it, it's all a bit of a mess.
16:52We'll get the big stuff out first, the new stuff.
16:55Yeah.
16:55Which is amazing.
16:57It is amazing, apparently.
17:01Adrian and Charlotte are preparing to create what they hope will be a smash hit.
17:06Look at this bad boy.
17:07Wow.
17:07So I do get really excited when we start to see new products, because that's when the vision can happen.
17:14Do you get excited? Because I get nervous.
17:17Yeah.
17:18A little bit windy today.
17:21A little bit windy today.
17:23Risking a tornado of their own, these tables are playing stunt double for the Crimson Dining Room.
17:30It has to be transformed from eatery for the elite into a wicked witch's hideout.
17:37That's got quite a nice sort of odd wine bottle feel to it, doesn't it?
17:41Yeah.
17:41Like she's a really heavy drinker.
17:46The Crimson Dining Room is where she's sort of brewing all her lotions and potions and stuff.
17:52Her laboratory.
17:53Her laboratory.
17:54I'm trying to visualise how we make it feel like a laboratory, as opposed to a very lovely, but not that laboratory-style glass display.
18:04In the book, this witch is not green and has no warts, just crazy hair.
18:15Charlotte and Adrian are going a little wicked with their take, but still have to tell the story.
18:20One of these, Dorothy has...
18:22Chucked on her.
18:23Chucked on her.
18:27The narrative moment here is this is where the witch melts.
18:31You'll hear her screaming at Dorothy, and then we'll create some resin water that comes out of here.
18:37It's already quite impressive, isn't it?
18:38Yeah.
18:39Done.
18:39They still have time to perfect their creation, but in Castle Howard's marketing and sales office, August the 12th is crunch time.
18:52Tickets for Christmas are about to go live.
18:56It's making us feel nervous.
18:58Last year, over 5,000 tickets sold on day one alone.
19:03With a third of paying visitors coming at Christmas, the stakes are high.
19:09Last year, we were outsourcing tickets, so somebody else was dealing with all of this, but for the first time, we're now selling them in-house.
19:16So we've done all the testing, everything's looking good.
19:19It's only really when we go live will we know that it's all going to work.
19:25This could be their Glastonbury moment.
19:28We're going live in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
19:34Let's go.
19:39Who's going to be our first booker?
19:47It's suspiciously quiet.
19:51Something's not working.
19:53When I click on your link, Georgie, that you've just sent me, tickets at castlehoward.co.uk.
19:57The booking system has ground to a halt.
20:04But Abby may have spotted the problem.
20:07I think there's an awful lot of people hitting the website all at the same time.
20:14So that might potentially be causing a bit of a glitch based on demand, which I guess is no bad thing that this many people want to book.
20:23I've just seen, yeah, there's 600, more than 600, it's growing all the time, people in a queue.
20:31So the queue is growing to get into the booking system.
20:34I've never seen demand like this in the first kind of five minutes of going on sale.
20:39It's crazy, actually.
20:40Phones are going to start ringing any second, I think, because people won't be able to complete their booking.
20:46Oh, success!
20:47Finally, it's working.
20:50And there's no end of visitors eagerly waiting for a Christmas in Oz.
20:55We'd love to welcome you back this year.
20:57September.
21:05In two months' time, the Christmas land of Oz opens to the paying public.
21:11And it wouldn't be Christmas without a tree.
21:14Well, 57 for Castle Howard.
21:19This year, Adrian swapped his usual supplier in Norway for one just 15 miles away.
21:24I get excited about the chance to go and physically choose it, because it's got to be perfect.
21:32It's got to be the right height, the right width, the right size, shape, look.
21:36So I am very particular, I know.
21:37Pity the poor grower, is what I say.
21:41My wife has told me this year I have to use what three words.
21:45These are Ollie's trees.
21:46Each tree has its own designated what three words.
21:50He's got 150,000, most destined for front rooms all over Britain, and just a few years old.
21:59But the biggies are more like 30, are pruned every few months, and cost 1,000 pounds a pop.
22:07That, to me, looks like a great option for the north front.
22:10But, Abby and Adrian are hunting for two key specimens, at least 28 feet tall.
22:17Are you happy with it from the other side?
22:20There's a little bit, there's a little bit sparse just at the bottom, but I think if that's the bottom and the back.
22:26If that's facing towards the house, yeah.
22:29The north lake's there.
22:31Yeah, so that's the front where Ollie is.
22:33There's just a little, tiny little bit here, but I think we can get away with that.
22:40One down, but the next is the most important.
22:44If it's good enough, that might be job done.
22:47It's for the Great Hall.
22:50There's been a tree for Christmas in the Great Hall, going back at least 130 years.
22:56Each one increasingly extravagant.
22:58Now photographed by thousands, it's the centrepiece of every Christmas visit.
23:07Ollie's had one earmarked for over a year.
23:11With the pine cones?
23:18It is going to get tidied up.
23:19Oh, no.
23:21The top branches are bare.
23:23We can't have that.
23:28Well, my mortal enemy in this field is a pair of buzzards that live in the wood behind here, fly into here to feed, and they sit in the tops of the trees.
23:38Break all the new growth off.
23:40We put these bird sticks on, but they're not buzzard proof.
23:42He sits on those and breaks those as well.
23:45Hopefully, he's got a plan B.
23:48I love the fact that he knows each individual tree.
23:50Like, you know each individual bauble.
23:54Despite the draw of artificial trees, Brits still spend over a quarter of a billion pounds a year on real ones.
24:02This one bothers me a little bit.
24:03It's lovely.
24:04From about six feet up, it gets a little bit too straight as it comes down.
24:11Not all of Castle Howard's will be real.
24:14What height is this one, Oliver?
24:15But for the Great Hall, fake's not an option.
24:1925.
24:1925.
24:20That's the smallest we've had.
24:21In a long time.
24:24That's way too short.
24:29He's a bit funny.
24:30He's quite a lot taken off his bottom.
24:36Actually, this is nice from the front, Abby.
24:38This is really nice from the front.
24:39This is lovely.
24:40Not bad round the back.
24:41There's a little bit in here, but nothing that I can't disguise with a large green velvet bow or two.
24:52Now, to make sure they can find it when they come to cut it down.
24:56Got my location.
24:58I've got resettled baseballs and carpets.
25:02Receiving python's light bulb.
25:05Sounds like next year's Christmas theme.
25:07Oh, good, isn't it?
25:08It's just six weeks until Oz descends on Castle Howard.
25:18At Christmas HQ, there's no time to waste.
25:22I'm personalising broomsticks.
25:25So for Tin Man, Dorothy, Scarecrow, Glinda and the Evil Witch.
25:31The whole team is kind of multitasking.
25:35Props are piling up.
25:37Dorothy's dress in the attic.
25:40Winky's tools in the yard.
25:42Floristry's full, so there's an overflow for faux flowers.
25:45So we've had a bit of a reorganisation in tent two.
25:50Wow.
25:50It's gorgeous.
25:51Really, really lovely.
25:53But Brian's at a standstill.
25:55Nothing left to do now, but wait.
25:58Drink tea.
26:01Oz's marketplace has to be painted tomorrow, but it's not ready.
26:06He's been waiting weeks for the final wood delivery.
26:10I've done all the prep I can.
26:13All of the backing with all of the bolt holes is all stacked neatly in piles there.
26:20The timber order is due today, but we're builder's merchant's timing, so...
26:27Perhaps he should lend a hand in floristry.
26:33Piece of paper.
26:35Stretch it out.
26:36As far as it goes.
26:38Outside help has been drafted in to get on top of decorations
26:41for the 100-foot-long antique passage.
26:45One six inches wide yellow crepe paper.
26:50We've already made thousands of smaller red poppies.
26:54For the floor spaces, we wanted to create some larger ones.
26:59So Amanda has already made two poppies down there.
27:04As you can see, they're gorgeous.
27:05So we're going to create more.
27:07And then once you've done that, you cut off the excess.
27:11Using hand-dyed paper, every poppy's unique.
27:15Try not to cut your fingers off.
27:16But making them is complicated.
27:18So do you think I should add a little bit of green here?
27:21With nearly 70 to go, there's no guarantee they'll be finished in time.
27:26Hopefully by the end of today and tomorrow, we'll have made two each.
27:30But there's still quite a lot to make.
27:34Outside, there's good news.
27:36Delivery is here, finally.
27:39And bad.
27:40But it's got to be unloaded by hand.
27:42No crane this time.
27:47Ah, today is centre triars, isn't it?
27:50All right.
27:5396 lengths of wood, each 16 feet long,
27:58have to be carried to the workshop,
28:01unassembled, before painting begins tomorrow morning.
28:04Brian's got a long night ahead of him.
28:22Halloween is the final themed event at Castle Howard,
28:26before it opens for Christmas.
28:28And the first part of Oz has arrived.
28:32Out of harm's way, in the burnt-out wing,
28:35Mark's finishing his model.
28:37And it's grown.
28:40We're just looking at this join between here and the middle.
28:45Now so big, it's in three separate pieces.
28:48That centrepiece is quite heavy.
28:51If that will clear the door frame at an angle,
28:54then we've only got to worry about joining it to that one.
28:59What could possibly go wrong?
29:02Also worrying about bringing Oz in...
29:05Shall we just start from the very beginning?
29:07Sorry.
29:07We're walking backwards and forwards on ourselves.
29:09Adrian and the house curator, careful Matthew.
29:12What Matthew tends to have to do is completely clear everything.
29:20You tend to err on the side of caution, don't you?
29:22Curators by nature are very risk-averse.
29:27Top of Adrian's list,
29:29something he's been keeping quiet about.
29:32And then is this where we meet the Wicked Witch?
29:35This is where we meet the Wicked Witch.
29:37She's going to be stood in all of her splendour
29:39in front of the fireplace.
29:40And then accompanying the Wicked Witch
29:44are her two flying monkeys.
29:47Oh.
29:48Which are chimpanzee real size
29:50with quite big wings.
29:53So they're sculptural pieces.
29:54I was wondering whether I can perch
29:56one on our desk
29:58and one on our piano?
30:02Absolutely not the piano.
30:04It's a lovely broadwood grand piano.
30:0718th century.
30:08Very old, very fragile.
30:12And not particularly weight-bearing.
30:14Maybe the desk.
30:15The desk is slightly more robust.
30:19That could have been worse.
30:21Next up,
30:22he needs permission to bring in the flat pack prairie house.
30:26Yes.
30:26And it's going to have to come this route.
30:29And I want to get it down.
30:30Down the passage.
30:31Down the passage.
30:32OK.
30:32Because the back wall flat is pretty enormous.
30:36So we've measured it.
30:37It will go past Fortuna.
30:39But I'm just very conscious
30:40it's a very big, heavy piece of scenery.
30:45It's not a decision to be taken lightly.
30:48She's around about 2,000 years old.
30:51Yeah.
30:52And she's been here for about 200 years.
30:54Yeah.
30:54At the end of the passage.
30:58But yes, carefully around Fortuna,
31:01I'm sure we can get the prairie house squeezed in somehow.
31:04Yeah.
31:04Great.
31:04Success.
31:06Fortuna's smiling on Adrian.
31:13It's November.
31:15Installation month.
31:17The last few days have seen a whirlwind of activity.
31:20Green paint everywhere.
31:24Poppies in their hundreds.
31:26And a certain amount of feather fluffing.
31:30I have never worked with ostrich feathers.
31:32We'll hope for the best.
31:33At the house,
31:35precious furniture's gone into storage.
31:38While Abby's been wrangling a film crew
31:40to make a Christmas promo.
31:44So I think we were hoping to disprove the old saying
31:47about working with children and animals.
31:49Three, two, one.
31:51Action.
31:53This could take longer than we thought.
31:57And at Ollie's farm, timber.
32:03Now, time has run out and Oz has to be taken to the castle.
32:08These are awkward as hell.
32:12And Brian's Emerald City market stalls
32:14are causing another big problem.
32:18I should have measured the height of the truck.
32:21It's one of those.
32:22Everyone gets going and you've...
32:24Keep going.
32:25Those are only eight foot, so they should fit.
32:32Ah.
32:34We're about to stick it on a bonfire.
32:36Right, let's bring it down and out.
32:38Right, three-point turn.
32:50Except somebody stuck some peacocks in the way.
32:53Right.
32:53Right, your end, Juliana, Eve, Theodora, your end down.
33:07Perfect.
33:09Watch the box, Mark.
33:12Castle Howard may be just two miles up the road,
33:15but the build starts tomorrow.
33:18Nothing can be left behind.
33:20Mind the roof.
33:23Straight back, bend the knees.
33:25This feels tacky still.
33:28All right, I'll have to watch that.
33:32All righty.
33:37Ooh.
33:39That one.
33:42Paint been painted.
33:44Ah.
33:45Need to remember that,
33:46because we can't really take paint into the house.
33:50In less than a week,
33:52it all needs assembling,
33:54dressing and finishing
33:55before doors open for this year's Christmas.
34:00We're getting there.
34:02No, it's all going to come off again at the far end.
34:04It's going to be fun, isn't it?
34:15Castle Howard is closed to the public for installation.
34:18Piled high in the Great Hall,
34:2230,000 baubles,
34:2437 fake trees,
34:26a kilometre of fairy lights,
34:27and much, much more.
34:29Today's main aim, first thing,
34:32is just to get all of the decorations,
34:34the props, the floristry,
34:35into the relevant parts of the house
34:37so we can start working.
34:41Scarecrow.
34:42Every day the house is shut
34:45is £10,000 in lost revenue.
34:48But nothing's quick in such a big space.
34:53This room alone is well over 100 foot.
34:57It's a non-trivial distance to walk.
35:01Right, tape motor.
35:03Nuts, bolts, bolts, nuts.
35:05Scaffolding's going up
35:10to hang the highest decorations,
35:12and the curatorial team
35:15are dealing with their last delicate removals.
35:18This bed has been here
35:20since around about 1825.
35:23The tape won't have been there since 1825.
35:25Definitely.
35:26As the decks find their homes,
35:32Brian's thinking about
35:33how to bring the prairie house
35:34up through the Great Hall.
35:37I mean, it's heavy.
35:39We know it's heavy.
35:40Statues, china,
35:43steps to fall down.
35:46Yeah.
35:46I'm a little bit nervous.
35:50Now, decorating can begin in earnest.
35:53Why make something permanent
35:55when you can just use hot glue,
35:58gaffer tape,
35:59and cable ties?
36:01A crew of 18
36:03is battling install
36:04one job at a time.
36:07Because it's so cold
36:09at this time of year,
36:10we need to add, like,
36:10the heat back into it
36:11and get that volume back into it,
36:13so we spend the morning blow
36:14drying this.
36:15Bathroom number one
36:17is being readied
36:17for the Tin Man.
36:19The Emerald City Marketplace
36:21is taking shape.
36:23And Laura's tackling at Garland.
36:25for the flying monkeys.
36:26I think it's about four metres long,
36:28which is a bit silly, really,
36:30but I'm sure it'll look great.
36:34But out back,
36:36there's been a terrifying delivery.
36:38If we bring the lips down,
36:44get rid of the teeth,
36:45get rid of the hair.
36:47Over 10,000 under fives
36:50are expected over the next two months,
36:52but our flying monkeys
36:54might just scare them all away.
36:57That was better already.
36:58Immediately better.
36:58Oh!
37:00Ooh!
37:01I don't think so.
37:03Day two of installation,
37:09and the scaffolding's gone up.
37:20I'm not going to get round this corner,
37:23even if I get the scaffolders
37:24to move the pipes in.
37:26Brian's flat-packed prairie house
37:27hasn't been brought through.
37:29I have no idea
37:31how we're going to get
37:31the flat through now.
37:35Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
37:36Right.
37:37He has to find a way round.
37:42Going through here.
37:44Going to get Juliana
37:45and the girls
37:46to move all of the
37:47Christmas tree decorations
37:49and stuff here.
37:52I have to ask Dave
37:53to slide the tables around.
37:54This is our pinch point,
37:57this doorway here.
38:00Have I got enough
38:01on the diagonal?
38:06Three metres.
38:10It's going to be tight.
38:12Very tight.
38:16First through,
38:17the smaller side walls
38:18and floor.
38:21OK, we're going to have
38:21to be really careful of...
38:23Really careful.
38:24It's the cornices
38:25I'm most worried about.
38:28The ornate stonework
38:29is original,
38:30over 300 years old
38:32and survived the fire
38:33back in 1940.
38:38But Brian doesn't want
38:40to let that
38:40get in the way
38:41of Christmas.
38:45Here comes
38:46the biggest piece.
38:48Let's stick a blanket
38:49over that top corner now
38:51whilst you can reach
38:52over the banister.
38:53OK.
39:03I was a near miss.
39:09I have to tilt it.
39:11Are you going over
39:12to Roger, are you?
39:13Yeah.
39:13Right, go on.
39:21Right, just be careful.
39:23We're going to have to bring
39:23the R&D round.
39:27Yeah, if you can go towards
39:29the table,
39:29we can bring this one
39:30towards the table.
39:31That's it, that's it.
39:31Keep going.
39:33Keep going.
39:33Right, yeah.
39:34Go, Pat.
39:37It's through.
39:38Now, the precarious
39:42journey down
39:43the antique passage.
39:47Heading straight
39:48for the 2,000-year-old
39:49Fortuna.
39:51Right, don't bash it
39:53too far over.
39:53I'm going to hit the wall.
39:56Then, the final straight
39:57to the relative safety
39:59of the China landing.
40:00Next up,
40:08the 28-foot-tall
40:10Christmas tree.
40:13Right, I'm coming in.
40:15Jason, stop.
40:17Have you got any room
40:18to lift it there?
40:19Head caretaker David's
40:20responsible for getting
40:22it in without damaging
40:24it or the great hall.
40:27Well, we're trying
40:28to lift the front
40:29and the back
40:30to bring it up
40:31to bring it in.
40:32But currently,
40:33it's dragging itself
40:34forward on the floor.
40:36Just stop!
40:37Just stop!
40:39We're trying a bit
40:40of a new system this year
40:41using a winch,
40:43but the winch
40:44was kind of dragging
40:44some of the top branches
40:46along the floor.
40:48It'd be awful
40:48to get it this far
40:49and then have a breakage.
40:51Manoeuvring one tonne
41:00of Nordman fur
41:01is no easy feat.
41:05And blankets
41:06don't afford much protection
41:08for the surrounding statues.
41:11But there's nothing
41:13like a tree at Christmas.
41:14I love the smell of it.
41:23Yeah, I love having
41:24a real tree,
41:24but I always fall
41:25into the trap of
41:26I've got low ceilings,
41:28it's an old cottage.
41:29I go to the garden centre
41:30and think,
41:31that looks like
41:31it'll definitely fit.
41:32No, it never does.
41:33Yeah, I always overdo it
41:35and then you end up
41:36with the top
41:37like that.
41:39No danger of that
41:40here.
41:40But will it
41:44pass inspection?
41:56Easy or trick?
41:59It is a little bit
42:00of a crooked top,
42:01but no-one
42:03will know the difference
42:04since you've got
42:04a huge green velvet bow on it.
42:07It's going to be
42:07beautiful to dress.
42:10That's a massive tick.
42:13Just one major piece
42:14of the puzzle left.
42:16Scott to security, over.
42:19House head of operations,
42:20Scott,
42:20is trying to track it down.
42:23Any news on the
42:24yellow brick road?
42:25Over.
42:32As soon as it arrives.
42:35So that's a negative.
42:36It's not here yet.
42:37Over.
42:39Negative.
42:40How?
42:40Doors open to the public
42:47on November the 12th.
42:49Hopefully once we've
42:49got them all on,
42:50there'll be 500 metres
42:51of lights that have
42:52gone on this tree.
42:54It's the final push
42:56to get everything finished.
42:58Oh my God,
42:59look at her.
43:00Wow.
43:02Gosh,
43:02they've cracked on.
43:04Okay,
43:04this looks spectacular.
43:08Team Christmas
43:08are in overdrive.
43:10My first time
43:11seeing the witch.
43:12Wow,
43:13she's tall
43:13and she's green.
43:22So here we are
43:24on the Emerald City tree.
43:25They went straight in a box
43:26in January
43:28and have been labelled
43:29for the Great Hall tree
43:30ever since.
43:31The land of Oz
43:39is nearing completion.
43:45But there's still
43:46something missing.
43:50It's finally arrived.
43:52Let's follow
43:53the Yellow Brick Road.
43:54It's only three metres long.
43:58Not ideal.
43:59Watch out for the poppies.
44:01But Abby's determined
44:02to make the best of it.
44:03So,
44:04if we flip it over.
44:11Oh,
44:11it looks good.
44:15Um,
44:16I think,
44:17well,
44:17what do you think?
44:18I think it looks great.
44:19I think it looks good.
44:20Perfect
44:20for a short walk in Oz.
44:23So this is just the sample,
44:24so the rest will arrive.
44:26No,
44:26it's all here.
44:27There's four rolls of it here somewhere.
44:28I think it's all
44:29through in the bedrooms.
44:30Random.
44:43Finally,
44:44it's ready.
44:47Nine long months
44:48in the making.
44:50From blank sheet of paper
44:51to the finished article,
44:54A Christmas in Oz
44:55is about to open
44:56to the public.
44:58We absolutely
44:59put our heart
45:00and soul,
45:01hearts and souls
45:02into these projects
45:03and we're always thinking
45:04about what we can do
45:05differently and better.
45:07You work on it
45:07all year round
45:08and you're very close to it
45:09but you'll never know
45:11until you see
45:12there's more truth at all.
45:13Yeah.
45:13Yeah.
45:13I have the best job
45:33in the world.
45:34I absolutely love it.
45:35And this has been
45:36our most immense Christmas.
45:37It has.
45:38It has.
45:39The biggest installation
45:40we've ever done
45:41here at Castle Howard.
45:42Yeah.
45:42I caught a woman
45:53and she had two children
45:54with her
45:54and you could see her
45:56welling up
45:56and then she caught
45:57caught sight of me
45:58and she came over to her.
45:59I just have to say
46:00I feel so emotional.
46:02She started to cry.
46:02I'm feeling a bit emotional
46:06because I was here
46:07until one o'clock
46:07this morning.
46:08Just relieved
46:09that it's all done
46:10and it looks amazing.
46:15A new A Very British Christmas
46:17keeps the celebrations
46:18going 8pm next Tuesday
46:20at Bambourg Castle
46:20with golden geese
46:21and delectable doubloons
46:22up for grabs.
46:24Dollar signs
46:24to end divides
46:25in the cruelest manner
46:26next tonight.
46:27Will they find the culprit?
46:28Brand new 24 hours
46:29in police custody
46:30of Family Vendetta
46:31concludes.
46:32We'll see you next time.
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