Evergreens have been used as festive decorations for centuries
it's hard to imagine celebrating Christmas without them
Today I'm collecting some greenery from the grounds at Audley End
so that I can make Christmas decorations to put up around the house and gardens
Traditionally when the Braybrookes lived here, evergreens would have been used for Christmas
decorations and we still use evergreens to create decorations for the house and gardens
There's a range of foliage to choose from including things like holly,
box, ivy and several types of conifer
but within the house we need to be mindful of the conservation of the collection
so consider things like the moisture and then the insects that could be taken into the house
people have been using foliage as festive decorations since the middle ages
evergreens for Christians symbolise eternal life
and so bringing greenery into the house promises that return to life in the spring
so a wreath is a circular arrangement of foliage
obviously for Christmas wreaths it tends to be evergreens.
Wreaths were used in roman times to mark military success or excellence
they're also recorded as being used to crown winners at Olympic games
wreaths were first hung on front doors in the 19th century and they were also known as welcome
rings they tended to be made up of holly, ivy, and also cones and homemade decorations
and so kissing boughs they date from the Tudor period
and at that time they were made of evergreens by the Georgian period they become
more elaborate so they included things like fruit and ribbons and homemade decorations
kissing boughs tended to include berries in the Georgian period
and so a gentleman could pluck a berry from the kissing bough and ask a lady for a kiss on the cheek
and once all the berries were gone then there were no more kisses to be had
and this might be where the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe comes from
mistletoe is an evergreen plant it tends to be on apple trees,
poplars or limes and if you look up into trees what you'll see is a very big ball
of green it's parasitic so it's feeding off its host tree the berries are spread by birds
although it's feeding off the tree it won't kill the tree but it will weaken it
every year we have a real tree here at Audley End in the great hall
the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1800 by Queen Charlotte the German wife of George III
but they're most commonly associated with Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort
so in the Victorian period Christmas trees would have been decorated with candles,
fruit, homemade decorations and small gifts
the Christmas tree that we use here is likely to be a spruce or a fir
it's very large because the great hall has very high ceilings so probably between 20 and 30 feet
when I'm making my wreaths I get together all the materials that I need
we have the foliage that we cut from the grounds earlier
there's box, and the holly, and the redwood foliage,
also off-cuts from the Christmas tree which are really useful
there's a metal wreath base, moss for mossing the base and also wire that I'm going to use
I've started to add moss to the base and I've got a long way around the base already
what I do is take handfuls of the moss and place it on the top and then
wire it onto the base by going through the centre and pulling tightly
so the moss just provides more depth to the wreath
but it also provides a bit of moisture behind the foliage
so I'll now tie off the wire and then we get onto the next stage
now the base is ready I'm going to make bunches of foliage – layered foliage – to place onto the base
and use the wire to fix it in place
continue to use the foliage to build the layers,
overlapping each other until you get back to the beginning
and then our wreath is complete
so it should last the whole of the festive season because we've been careful with the
foliage that we've chosen it's all got waxy leaves and so it will hang onto its moisture
evergreens have been cut and used for centuries to dress houses for Christmas
and this is a tradition that we carry on at Audley End to dress our house this Christmas