Now BRING us some FIGGY pudding
MAKE YOUR OWN GIN, Yorkshire
Impress Christmas guests by serving them your very own gin, handmade using tabletop copper stills in the picturesque surroundings of Ripley Castle. Gin-making students head out into the historic walled gardens here to pick fresh botanicals that they can use to create their own mix. Sampling award-winning G&Ts as they go, they visit a large distillery for inspiration first, then make their own individual bottles of gin to take home with them. Best of all, their recipe remains on file should they want to create more bottles of it in the future. The experience lasts around three hours.
Weekends in Dec; £125; harrogatetipple.com
ICED BISCUIT DECORATING, London
Learn how to use icing to create characters or pictures on biscuits that you can then give as gifts – or keep for yourself. The Biscuiteers bake gorgeous biscuits across two London venues – Notting Hill and Clapham – that would make great stocking fillers or can be presented in keepsake tins. For the festive season they are running workshops to teach intricate decoration techniques. Participants could choose to create characters from Raymond Briggs’s The Snowman, for example, or on another date, could decorate biscuits to look like baubles for a tree.
Various dates; from £90; biscuiteers.com
GINGERBREAD CITY, London
Each winter, an entire miniature city is created from gingerbread and exhibited on Motcomb Street, Belgravia. With more than 100 architects, designers and engineers working on this year’s project, the city is a festive mustsee for children who love building at home – or just anyone with a sweet tooth. With the theme of “nature in the home”, visitors can expect a pocket world of ecologically-friendly iced buildings. Those inspired to make their own gingerbread houses can join daily afternoon or evening workshops suited to the whole family.
Dec 4-Jan 9; £14 (£8.50 child), workshop £40; thegingerbreadcity.com
MEAD AND BANQUETING, York
Bored of mulled wine? Clink a tankard of honey-scented mead with friends this Christmas and learn about how people used to celebrate in the Middle Ages. Mead-tasting sessions (with nibbles) are being planned for York’s Barley Hall, a reconstructed medieval townhouse, by the award-winning Lancashire Mead Company. Guests will learn about the historical and cultural significance of the drink, while supping a range of examples. The hall is also hosting a festive medieval banquet, where the old customs and symbols of Christmas will be discussed, and another night where a food historian will discuss the cultural significance of humble gingerbread. Various December dates; mead tasting £35, festive banquet £68, gingerbread history £30; barleyhall.co.uk