The 12 Days of Great Paxton Christmas
A countdown to the Christmas Tree Festival December 2024
On the First Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
A Partridge in the Green Tree
The partridge population of England has dropped by about 94% since the 1980's, they can however be sometimes seen when walking "the loop" especially at dusk when you might put a small group to flight by just walking the path.
There are two pear trees on the High Street but we put this on the tree on the green as it's more obvious.
On the Second Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Two Alpacas.
Sonic and Sambuca are 10 year old Great Paxton residents who enjoy eating grass and hanging out in fields. They are shorn annually around May. They came here from Houghton Hall. Here they are seen eagerly awaiting the Christmas Tree Festival that took place in the church behind them.
Picture courtesy Chris Hall
On the Third Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Three Red Kites.
A real conservation success story, red kites have come back from the brink of national extinction to being common enough to be seen over the village almost every day. They feed mostly on carrion and worms but will opportunistically take what they can get. If you ever see one near the ground you will see how BIG they are with a wingspan of 175-195cm (5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet 6 inches). These pictures were taken from the web rather than in Great Paxton, but I did see three at the same time once from our kitchen window!
On the Fourth Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Four School Classrooms.
Robin, Swallow, Flamingo and Peacock with their teachers and some helpful Christmas elves. Great Paxton has had a school since at least 1856 with the current one built in the early 1990's. Almost every primary age child in Great Paxton for the last 168 years has been to school here. Thank you to the school for allowing me to go in and the teachers for allowing me to take pictures of them wearing silly hats.
On the Fifth Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Five Go-old Rings! (x2)
Five couples connected with Great Paxton who got married this year. Clockwise from top left: Mica and Andrew, Sian and Sam, Jess and Niall, Louise and Keith, Clive and Jan. You can take your vows in Great Paxton at the church and/or have the reception at The Bell.
(Thanks to Rachael Martin for tracking down four of these. Niall is our youngest son who got married to the lovely Jess in London this summer).
On the Sixth Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Six bells a-ringing.
Great Paxton church tower had 5 bells until 2018 when a sixth was added. Following an assessment in 2015, the bells and associated structures were considered in poor condition and could only be rung occasionally until village fundraising topped off with a lottery grant allowed the work to be done to enable them to be safely used for the next few hundred years. They can now be heard regularly for events at the church and also sometimes when visiting groups of bellringers come to have a go on them. A short film about the re-installation of the bells after refurbishment can be seen here, the bells can be seen and heard in action at 4 mins 55 secs.
Picture courtesy Jacqueline Wieczorek
On the Seventh Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Seven Swans a-swimming.
Swans on the River Great Ouse where it passes by Great Paxton. Mute swans are the quietest of swans but do make a noise at times, most likely you will hear them hissing. No they can't break your arm - despite what your cousin's mate told you about what happened to the brother of someone he knew.
Pictures courtesy Jacqueline Wieczorek
On the Eighth Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Eight Turbines turning.
Cotton Farm wind farm on the edge of Great Paxton has been in operation since 2013, the turbines have a combined capacity of 16.4 Megawatts and can generate enough electricity to supply up to 16,000 homes. The wind blowing through Great Paxton helped to light our Christmas Tree Festival. Turn the sound on and you will hear skylarks, which can be regularly heard in the spring and summer months on the "loop" by the wind farm. They are in between a sparrow and starling in size, it is the males that sing to demonstrate their fitness to the females in a "Look at me flying and singing this marvelous song at the same time!" sort of way. They are a Red List endangered species, we are lucky to have them so close by living on the edge of our village. While they can be clearly heard, it is often surprisingly difficult to see them in flight, it is almost as if the sky is singing.
On the Ninth Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Nine People Preparing.
(don't count too carefully!) Some of the people who came along to set up their trees and other displays for the Christmas Tree Festival weekend. Clockwise from top left: Mike Walpole and some of his art, Ann Nicholson with some decorations she has made to raise money for the church, Hannah and friends with decorations made by children at Samuel Pepys school for a dozen small trees along the pews, Steve from SG Autos Ltd and partner setting up their tyre tree, Chris Monaghan and his mosaics, Liane Moyser and Joanna Clark setting up the village shop tree. Apologies for not knowing everyone's names.
On the Tenth Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Ten things to buy.
There are two shops in Great Paxton, our village shop and Ibbets, they both sell things that you wouldn't necessarily think of, so I went to see what I could find. Top row Ibbets, bottom row the village shop, clockwise from top left: Mouse traps, take care when handling!, chainsaws (I was told I had to keep the blade guard on), big bones for the dog, cool new threads, descaler - saved me a trip to B&Q.
Village shop: pick and mix - very popular apparently, Pies - who doesn't love a pie - an easy main meal or lunch for not much, tv snacks, lovely cheddar in many forms, I recommend the vintage one and the Christmas pudding one, apple juice - a tasty soft drink.
A big thank you to both for supporting our Christmas tree Festival, Ibbets with gift vouchers as raffle prizes, and the village shop for their tree.
On the Eleventh Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Eleven Beer Taps.
It's like a tap but beer comes out of it! Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive.
If you look carefully, you can see one of Santa's elves working hard to bring festive cheer to the villagers of Great Paxton. Rumour has it that "Ding dong merrily on high" was written about the Bell and its landlady.
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas Great Paxton Gave to Me:
Twelve dogs in hats.
I like dogs, these are some I encountered walking around the village a little while ago, some were happier wearing hats than others! Sadly these dogs weren't allowed into the Christmas Tree Festival, dogs + trees = Ooh-err!.
