Forty Hall's Christmas: Father Christmas 5-6 Dec (£12 with a present to 15 Nov), house dressed for Christmas 10-31 Dec at £3, carols by candlelight 13 Dec.

Forty Hall’s Christmas starts with its fayre on 28 and 29 November, then Father Christmas at the Hall on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December, from £6 a child (£12 with a present until 15 November). From Thursday 10 December the house is dressed for Christmas, Thursday to Sunday, 11am to 4pm, at £3 an adult with under 15s free, and it reopens every day from 26 to 31 December. Everything is pre-booked through the council venues’ box office, and the car park is free.

The Jacobean house at Forty Hill, EN2 9HA, is run by Enfield Council. It has now put its whole December programme on sale; when we last checked, on 24 October, none of the Christmas events below were listed. Every detail here is from the Forty Hall Estate’s what’s on pages and the box office that sells its tickets, read on 31 October 2026.

The dates at a glance

Date Event Price
Sat 28 and Sun 29 Nov Christmas Fayre, 11am to 4pm Adults £2.50 to 15 Nov, then £4.50; under 15s free
Sat 5 and Sun 6 Dec Father Christmas at the Hall, 10.30am to 11.30am slots From £6 a child
Sun 6 Dec Paint and gold leaf baubles workshop, 1pm to 3pm £55
From Thu 10 Dec Forty Hall Dressed for Christmas, 11am to 4pm £3 adults, under 15s free
From Thu 10 Dec Gingerbread Trail, 11am to 1pm £4 a child
Sun 13 Dec Candlelight Christmas Concert, 2pm £8 to £12
Sun 13 Dec Champagne afternoon tea, 12pm or 2.30pm £27 or £34
Sat 19 Dec Children’s stocking and light-up dome workshops £18 each

The workshops and the concert add a £1.50 booking fee a ticket, as their listings state.

Father Christmas at the Hall, 5 and 6 December

Father Christmas and his elves move into the house’s wrapping room, among piles of parcels being checked before they go on the sleigh. Children say hello, write a wish list and post it in a special post box. The event is for ages 4 to 10, and every child must come with an adult (Forty Hall Estate).

Entry is in five slots each morning, at 10.30am, 10.45am, 11am, 11.15am and 11.30am, with 30 places in each.

Ticket Early bird, until 15 November From 16 November
Child, with a present £12 £15
Child, without a present £6 £9
Each extra adult £3 £6
One adult per child Free Free

On 31 October most slots had 20 of their 30 places left. Sunday’s are going faster: the 11am slot had 13 left and the 11.30am slot 9.

This is a week earlier than last year, when the event ran on 13 and 14 December. For the other grottos in the borough, at Capel Manor and Crews Hill, see our Santa’s grottos page.

Forty Hall Dressed for Christmas, from 10 December

The house’s period rooms are decorated for Christmas, “to enjoy sights, sounds and scents of the festive period”, in the listing’s words (Forty Hall Estate).

  • When: Thursday to Sunday, 11am to 4pm, on 10 to 13 and 17 to 20 December, then every day from Saturday 26 to Thursday 31 December. It is closed from 21 to 25 December.
  • Price: £3 an adult; under 15s free. Each day has 150 tickets.
  • Worth knowing: on these days the hall is closed to anyone without a ticket. The gift shop stays free to enter.

The Gingerbread Trail

Running alongside it, the Gingerbread Trail sends children round the house to find the Gingerbread Family, who have muddled up the presents, and work out whose gift each one is carrying. It runs 11am to 1pm, Thursday to Sunday, from 10 to 20 December, at £4 a child; adults pay the £3 Christmas entrance. The listing also names 26 to 31 December, but on 31 October the box office had only opened the dates up to 20 December.

Concert, afternoon tea and workshops

  • Candlelight Christmas Concert, Sunday 13 December, 2pm to 3.30pm, in the Long Gallery. The Hi Lo Singers, an East London choir of more than 180 voices, sing carols and Christmas songs by candlelight. Adults £12, over 65s £10, under 16s £8, plus £1.50 booking fee; 71 of 100 seats were left on 31 October (Forty Hall Estate).
  • Champagne afternoon tea, Sunday 13 December, 12pm to 1.30pm or 2.30pm to 4pm, in the Banqueting Suite. Finger sandwiches including turkey, cranberry and stuffing, scones, Christmas fruitcake and mince pies. £27, or £34 with a glass of champagne. Tell the hall about dietary needs in advance (Forty Hall Estate).
  • Paint and gold leaf baubles, Sunday 6 December, 1pm to 3pm. Learn gilding and make three baubles. £55 plus booking fee, ages 15 and over, twelve places (Forty Hall Estate).
  • Personalise your own Christmas stocking, Saturday 19 December, 11.30am to 12.30pm, and create your own Christmas light-up dome, the same day, 1.30pm to 2.30pm. Children’s workshops for ages 5 to 15, £18 each plus booking fee, fifteen places each, materials included (stocking, dome).

Before all of this, the Forty Hall Christmas Fayre fills two floors of the house and the courtyard on 28 and 29 November, with 55 stalls. The farm’s monthly farmers’ market on Sunday 13 December doubles as a wreath-making day (Forty Hall Farm).

Getting there and parking

Parking is free. Drive through the main gates on Forty Hill and turn right into the car park; the estate says there is ample space, with disabled bays on the right as you enter. The car park opens at 8.30am and is locked at dusk, which in December is around 4pm, so do not plan to linger after the concert or the afternoon tea’s second sitting (Forty Hall Estate FAQs, plan your visit).

By car, the entrance is reached from Bullsmoor Lane or Caterhatch Lane off the A10. By public transport, Turkey Street, Gordon Hill and Enfield Town stations are each about a 20 minute walk, or take the 191 or W10 bus from Enfield Town to the Myddleton Avenue roundabout and walk ten minutes up Forty Hill (getting here). Check our roadworks and travel page for A10 works before you set off, and our parking in Enfield page if you are combining the trip with Enfield Town.

Still to be confirmed

  • Box office dates for the Gingerbread Trail from 26 to 31 December.
  • Whether Father Christmas adds slots if the first ones sell out. It had ten slots in total on 31 October, all in the mornings.

We will update this page as the slots sell and if Forty Hall adds anything.

Contacts

Forty Hall: 020 8363 8196 or forty.hall@enfield.gov.uk, as given on each event page.

Sources