This year has really shown how much we have to be grateful for, at Grimscote Manor we are extremely grateful for our wonderful community and all those who continue to support us especially during these uncertain times.

6 years ago Gillian and Steven decided that they wanted to give a little something back to the wonderful people who support all year by choosing to open up the doors of Grimscote Manor on Christmas day solely for those who spend the day alone.

As we all know Christmas is the time of year in which we come together and spend time with our friends and family, celebrating with gifts, cards, decorations, and food. However, there are many people out there who have quite a different type of Christmas in which they are not surrounded by their loved ones, this was the case for Gillian and Steven which is why this even is so important for them.

Nowhere quite does Christmas as we do at Grimscote Manor, with Christmas music filling the hotel as soon as it hits November 1st, Gillian’s beautifully decorated 10 ft trees in each room (which only take an extreme 8 hours per tree to decorate!) and of course the team are dressed with Christmas ties. We are so honoured to be able to welcome those who would otherwise be spending the day alone, into our beautiful festive filled hotel in which they get a chance to celebrate Christmas the way it should be surrounded by those who care for them.

Starting the preparations for the day, a month in advance we get in contact with all those who plan to spend their Christmas with us, ensuring to check in with them a week and then the day before to reassure them of the plan and pick up timings. On the day, a handful of us as well as our wonderful local taxi company EH Express cars who we really could not do the day without go round and collect our guests. Once all our lovely guests arrive, they are greeted with a drink of their choice and begin taking a seat at our beautifully decorated table with one of our many Christmas CDs playing in the background.

Once all our guests are ready, we begin serving Gillian’s delicious 3 course Christmas meal with soup, turkey with all the trimmings and of course Christmas pudding with brandy sauce, there meal then topped off with tea, coffee, and mints. We then ensure all our guests get home safely and are dropped to their doors with a Christmas gift.

We try to ensure that those who spend the afternoon with us have a lovely Christmas, a day in which they may have not been looking forward to as much as the rest of us.

Although Christmas may be a little different this year, we are grateful to be able to celebrate and keep our favourite tradition of Christmas day with the elderly, with social distancing in place and the layout changing slightly we will do whatever we can to ensure this day is a safe and entertaining day for those who spend it with us.

(we write this in hopes that if you know somebody who may be spending Christmas alone, please pass our details as no one should spend Christmas on their own.)