Christmas is all about traditions…

…and in this December issue we meet rural communities with especially charming ways of celebrating. Take the National Trust property Cotehele in Cornwall where, on Christmas Eve, locals and visitors alike gather in the Tudor Great Hall to sing carols beneath a spectacular 60-foot-long flower garland woven with 30,000 blooms from the estate gardens (page 64). Or the people of Askrigg in Wensleydale, who go a step further by decorating 24 windows in village homes, each with a different Christmas theme and unveiling them one day at a time, thus turning the streets into a giant Advent calendar (page 100). In a simpler gathering at Boydells Farm in Wethersfield, Essex, everyone in the area (and those from further afield) meet alongside sheep, goats and geese for Carols in the Cowshed (page 128). Whatever form your celebrations take, may I wish you a very merry Christmas from all of us at Country Living.