Top 10 historic Christmas experiences

Victorian Christmas Weekend, Blists Hill Victorian Town

Set within the Ironbridge Gorge UNESCO World Heritage Site, Blists Hill will be transformed into an olde-worlde Christmas wonderland. Experience the sights, sounds and smells of a bygone era as the town heaves with Victorian characters donning bonnets and top hats. Dip into the various traditional shops for unique stocking fillers such as white mice sweets and pretty lace collars.
When: 10-11, 17-18 December 2011

Jane Austen's Regency Christmas, Bath

Experience Christmas as Jane Austen did in the glorious UNSESCO World Heritage Site of Bath and “think little of even the worst weather". In the month leading up to Christmas, The Jane Austen Centre adds plenty of festive sparkle with Regency-style decorations dotted around the house and Georgian-inspired Christmas trinkets in the gift shop.
When: 26 November - 31 December 2011

Festive Falconry, Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire

Discover how birds of prey helped create Christmas feasts for kings and noblemen, and no they weren’t on the menu! In fact, these majestic creatures worked with hunters to find fresh game for the dinner table in the winter season. Pop along to Kenilworth Castle to learn all about this age-old tradition and get up close to hawks, falcons and other flying predators.
When: 26-27 November 2011

The Dragon Hall Vintage Christmas Ball, Norwich

Put on your best pair of dancing shoes and celebrate Christmas in true vintage style at the magnificent 13th-century medieval Dragon Hall. Do the lindy-hop to the He-Hews, learn how to swing dance, or show off your best jazz hands to war-time jazz songs from songstress Gill Dean. And when your feet start to ache from all the jiving, sit down to a stylish high tea lovingly prepared by Biddy's Tea Room in Norwich.
When: 10 December 2011

Garstang Victorian Christmas Festival, Lancashire

Journey back to the 19th century at the Victorian Christmas Festival in the historic town of Garstang. There’ll be Morris dancers bouncing about, choirs singing and brass bands filling the cobbled high streets with authentic festive sounds. Indulge in a little late-night Christmas shopping at the local shops or tuck into roasted chestnuts and melt-in-the-mouth hog roast.
When: 12-13 December 2011

Lumley Castle, County Durham

Sit down to a traditional Tudor feast in the Great Baronial Hall at the 600-year-old Lumley Castle. The Elizabethan banquet boasts five wine-doused courses. Tuck into the likes of Checkyn in Mead and Lemon syllabub with a Stem Ginger Sable Biscuit while Tudor entertainers play out a unique pantomime performance of Cinderella.
When: Various dates through December 2011

Dickensian Festival, Lightwater Shopping Village, Yorkshire

This Dickensian festival has it all: traditional entertainment, festive food and over 75 stalls full of stocking fillers. Catch a Punch & Judy show, be freaked out by the flea circus and watch out for the fire eaters! Then move onto the market stalls to pick up everything from hand-painted pottery to homemade pies. Oh and talking of food, there’s also a Christmas carvery if you’ve got enough room after all those roasted chestnuts and glasses of mulled wine.
When: 1-4 December 2011

Christmas Dinner: from Edward I to Edward VII Evening Lecture, Hampton Court

Learn all about the history of the Christmas dinner with food historian Annie Gray as she takes you on a gastronomic journey through the ages, charting the many different traditions of Christmas dinner, from medieval feasts to eccentric Victorian traditions. And if you’re feeling hungry after all that food talk, there’ll be historic recipes to sample and modernised versions for you to try at home.
When: 8 December 2011

Victorian tours at Muncaster Castle, Cumbria

Travel back to Christmas 1885 and peek behind the scenes of this magical 13th-century castle. The Victorian maids and top hat-wearing butlers will show you around by candlelight, letting you into some of the castle’s secrets and taking you to rooms not normally open to the public. After your 40-minute tour, get toasty by the log fire with mulled wine or a mince pie in hand and then head out to see the vast gardens transformed into a magical winter wonderland.
When: 4, 11, 18, 21,23,27,29 December 2011.

Candlelit Shakespeare Tour, Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon

Take a candlelit tour of Shakespeare’s Birthplace while sipping on a glass of mulled wine or devouring a mince pie or two. There will be performances by Shakespeare Aloud! and plenty of Tudor Minstrels fooling around to add to the Tudor Christmas cheer. Oh, and you might learn a thing or two about England’s greatest bard too!
When: 8 December 2011