There’s nothing quite like catching the last of the Christmas feels just before Twelfth Night!

Just because the festivities are over doesn’t mean you have to be done with all those gorgeous decorations and twinkly lights.

I’m loving making the most of my National Trust membership and ticking some local travel hotspots off my bucket list!

Take a look around the gorgeous estate at Mottisfont in Romsey. It embraced a Flower Fairy theme to celebrate Christmas and bring a touch of the beautiful gardens and a bit of fairy magic to the inside of the house.

Around the house

There’s something so elegant and grand about a hallway this big. I always like to think I’d have made a great ‘lady of the house’ wearing ball gowns and hosting friends for extravagant parties and weekends away – hey, a girl can get swept up in the romanticism of an old house, right?

Since I was very young my Mum and I have visited the UK’s get houses, castles and estates marvelling at the architecture and exploring where we live. I think that’s why I still love it so much now – it’s a great way to travel and you can see landmarks, film sets and experience your country in a way like no other!

I think I last went to Mottisfont on a school trip but, I genuinely couldn’t remember it! I forgot how pretty it is and it had been beautifully dressed for Christmas.

Each room was enchanting and represented a Flower Fairy, pulling out a specific flower or plant to dress the room. There were also these big oversized books where you could read the associated poem.

It’s really funny as I haven’t read any of these for many, many years. But, I remembered each one quite clearly, I must have read these a lot as a child!

Some rooms clearly told a story and others were just beautifully decorated with the associated flowers. There were ever little woodland animal scenes on sideboards, mantels and in the hallways.

A lot of attention to detail had been put into the displays and there were lots of tiny fairy features, like tiny pixie shoes filled with presents! Look at the ones by the bed below!

Some of the rooms were so elaborate that it looks like I’d stepped into a candy floss covered Katy Perry video.

This plant the butterfly if resting on is called ‘Old Man’s Beard’, would you believe? It looks like tiny little white balls of cotton wool!

Like I said, even the hallways were elaborately decorated, it looked amazing though and must have taken so much time.

Flower Fairy exhibition

Unfortunately no pictures were allowed to be taken in the Flower Fairy exhibition of paintings, I think it’s a mixture of copyright and to protect the beautiful watercolours. They are originals after all!

If you ever get a chance to see them, go as you’ll enjoy them, especially if you’re into art – the detail and use of different techniques is brilliant.

Winchester Art College exhibition

After the paintings there was a mix medium exhibition in tribute to the Flower Fairies by the design students at Winchester Art College.

It was a mix of paintings and outfits the fairies would wear now. There were a few but this one really caught my eye and was my favourite, I loved the smock top, the padded jacket and the ruffle detail that snaked all over it.

The colour was a pastel lilac and very striking. While there were plenty of ethereal looking outfits fit for a fairy this is the one I would have definitely worn. In fact if I knew how to do ruffles like that I’d try and make this on my sewing machine. I think it’s very advanced for me though – baby steps!

Annoyingly I forgot to find out which fairy this was based on, the name of the student that made it and to take photos of anything else in the room. Oops!

I am so glad I managed to get to Mottisfont to see the Christmas decorations before they were taken down. Apparently, it had been a real sell out in the run up to Christmas and I can see why. Even post Christmas it was very busy!

I had a wonderful afternoon and will definitely be heading back to see future exhibitions and displays, I loved the additional one from local students and wandering the grounds too.

Exploring my local area is turning out to be really fun and I can’t wait to plan my next adventure!

Have you been to Mottisfont? If so, what did you think?