A look back in time to a medieval Christmas is promised with the Viking Yule event at Buckland Abbey.

Vikings and their domestic lives is the main theme of this festive journey through the Buckland’s medieval past which will appeal to families.

The event, runs until Tuesday, December 3 in the medieval Great Barn, and is described as an immersive Viking Yule experience with Viking cookery in the abbey on Saturday, December 14 and Tuesday, December 17 and Christmas workshops for children on Saturday, December 7 and 8. A separate traditional wassail will take place on Sunday, January 5.

Visitors to Buckland Abbey’s Great Barn will be transported through a Scandinavian forest and into a Viking long hall surrounded by Viking traditions and the Viking gods all beautifully lit by lighting inspired by the Northern Lights from the roof of the medieval tithe barn.

In the beautifully decorated abbey visitors will be greeted by the Christmas cascade decoration suspended down the length of the Georgian staircase. This celebrates the Winter Solstice and was hand-crafted by volunteers with hundreds of hours of needlework.

There are Viking-related themes in each abbey room – from Freyja and Odin to the Northern Lights and Viking coin hoards.

Eleanor Hopkinson, visitor experience manager for the National Trust at Buckland Abbey comments: “The Viking Yule celebrations at the National Trust’s Buckland Abbey are inspired by the Scandinavian raiders who raided Tavistock and Lydford in 997.

“Whilst this is before Buckland Abbey was founded in 1278, Vikings made their mark on the area and visitors will have plenty of opportunities to stop and learn about the arrival of Vikings in Devon and their Yuletide rituals, some of which are reflected in Christmas traditions today.”

Eleanor continues, “Most of the decorations are lovingly handmade by volunteers who have worked incredibly hard this year to bring the Vikings to Buckland. We can’t wait to welcome visitors to the display and for them to see the true community effort that runs through the whole of Buckland Abbey from constructing the Barn display, putting together flower displays, dressing Christmas trees in the Abbey and sewing the Georgian staircase cascade.”

All the trees on display in the Great Barn and in the Abbey have been felled from the Buckland Abbey estate as part of Buckland’s ongoing woodland floor management plan to support the health of the estate’s woodlands.

Ed Furdson, lead ranger said: “It’s wonderful that we can use trees from Buckland’s Great North Wood in this year’s Christmas display. Once the display is finished, they will be chipped and used across the estate to complete their circular journey.”

Find out more at: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/buckland-abbey