There’s no place like this home…
Castle Howard has been transported to Oz for Christmas 2025.
The stunning North Yorkshire stately home today revealed its Wonderful Wizard Of Oz spectacular for this festive season.
For the next seven weeks until 4 January, 300-year-old Castle Howard becomes an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations, floristry, projections, lighting and sound.
The showstopping Emerald City High Street in the Long Gallery is a highlight of the experience for 2025, with life size fabricated shop fronts inspired by Shambles in York and decorated by a specialist signwriting expert.
Castle Howard’s centrepiece 28-foot Christmas tree sparkles in the Great Hall, installed by a team of 30 using a specialist forklift and winch system. This year it comes complete thousands of emerald-inspired decorations as part of the Wizard of Oz theme.
Today’s big reveal comes at the end of more than ten months of preparations by creative team Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie.
They built the incredible sets on the Castle Howard estate before moving them into the main house.
The installation process in the House takes ten days to complete, with circa 30,000 baubles are on display, and the creative team reusing and recycling products where possible and favouring more sustainable materials like paper and glass.
Northern theatre company Imitating The Dog have provided the projections and soundscapes.
Unique musical compositions accompany each room in the house, alongside soundscapes that bring the narrative from the original book to life.
And visitors can also shop for very special treats, including a chocolate Toto, as Castle Howard is hosting a Bettys shop in their historic Stable Courtyard for the duration of Christmas
Castle Howard visitor attraction director Abbigail Ollive said: “We are thrilled to launch Christmas at Castle Howard for 2025. Every year it gets bigger and better, and we can’t wait to share our extravaganza with our visitors who come back each Christmas.
“We have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming the Channel 4 film cameras back this year, giving them behind-the-scenes access to the creative process, which we hope visitors will enjoy watching.”
Castle Howard has employed an additional 100 Christmas staff for the festive spectacular
Tickets cost between £28 and £38. There are also £5 tickets to those in receipt of Max Cards and Universal Credit.
You can find more details and book at the Castle Howard website.
