Castle Howard has announced record breaking visitor numbers for their 2024 Christmas event, reaching 100,000 visitors on the closing day, Sunday 5th January.

The stately home’s Christmas experience, Alice’s Christmas Wonderland, saw the 300-year-old House transformed into an immersive experience dressed in decorations, floristry, projections, lighting and sound, running over a 7-week period.

The Alice’s Christmas Wonderland creative team CLW Event Design, headed up by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, have worked on the project since January 2024, with the set pieces fabricated and built on the Castle Howard Estate. Circa 30,000 baubles were on display, with 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, with the content filmed in Leeds.

Castle Howard reported over 27,000 (30% of the total) tickets were bought by visitors living outside of Yorkshire and the Humber, over 1,100 tickets were free for Essential Carers, and over 1,200 tickets were free for Max Card holders (families of SEND and looked after children).

Castle Howard also hosted eight specific access events, such as BSL interpreted and Relaxed Father Christmas events, BSL interpreted tours, and Calm Sessions. They delivered over 100 subsidised tickets for these events, including to local York groups Lollipop, a social club for young people experiencing deafness, and Club Wilber, a club for young people who are blind or partially sighted.

Castle Howard also created Touch Boxes as part of the Alice’s Christmas Wonderland experience, tactile objects from the displays for anyone that required a more sensory experience during their visit. These experiences were made possible by Castle Howard’s Christmas Access Partner LNER, with support for the Touch Boxes from the North York Moors National Park’s Accessibility Grant.

Castle Howard has employed an additional 130 Christmas staff from the local area to facilitate the Christmas event, on top of their year-round staff. They are also supported by an invaluable team of 200 volunteers.

Castle Howard Visitor Attraction Director, Abbigail Ollive, said: ‘We are so grateful to all visitors who have joined us for Alice’s Christmas Wonderland this year, the creative team pulled out all the stops to create our most magical experience yet. All profits from the Christmas experience in the House contribute to the restoration of the historic architecture and landscapes, to preserve them for future generations, and so we are delighted in its success. It’s been fantastic to welcome so many visitors from beyond Yorkshire, which has no doubt had a positive economic impact on the local area.

We are also grateful to our Access Partners LNER, who supported us in facilitating our accessible performances, events and initiatives this year, and who helped us provide special experiences for families this Christmas. Hosting the Bettys pop-up shop in our Stable Courtyard has also been a huge success in 2024; a perfect partnership which provided an extra Yorkshire delight for our visitors.

Our teams are already working on Christmas 2025!’

Castle Howard announced their 2025 Christmas extravaganza as Christmas at Castle Howard with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, creating a festive take on L. Frank Baum's much-loved story, told in stately surroundings.