Christmas with a big group sounds lovely until you try to seat everyone for dinner and work out where they will sleep. A house with its own dining room solves both problems. Some of this year’s options also have a cinema or a heated swim spa for the hours between meals.
GroupAccommodation.com’s Christmas roundup included the five houses below, which were still being offered for the festive period on 25 September. They suit groups of 12 to 21 on the advertised arrangements, though the largest property has additional bedrooms that can be requested. Availability can change, so check the dates before settling plans in the family chat.
The prices cover different lengths of stay. Augill Castle’s offer runs from Christmas Eve to 27 December, The Old Millhouse quotes five nights, and Bannerrigg and Hembal Manor offer a full week. Elm Grove charges by the night, with a three-night minimum. If you want a wider search, our guide to luxury UK Christmas stays covers a separate collection of properties.
1. Augill Castle, Cumbria: Christmas Eve in a castle
Augill Castle, near Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria’s Eden Valley, offers a Christmas setting I’d happily rearrange the family rota for. The nineteenth-century castle has a 12-seat Art Deco-inspired cinema, and its 15 acres of grounds include a tennis court and a treehouse. There is plenty to occupy a group before anyone starts debating what to watch after dinner.
The sleeping arrangements deserve a close read. Augill’s general listing describes 15 bedrooms and space for up to 30 guests. The advertised Christmas prices cover up to 20 adults in 10 bedrooms. Additional bedrooms can be requested, but confirm those before inviting a larger party.
Guests arrive on Christmas Eve and leave on 27 December. At £9,000, the Christmas in a Box package provides food prepared for you to cook and a stocked bar, with support during the stay. The £7,900 self-catered option is for groups bringing their own food and drink; the castle supplies linen and logs for the fires. As Augill puts it on its Christmas booking page: “You bring the sustenance. We’ll provide the castle.”
Three ground-floor bedrooms in the general listing have level access. If someone in your group needs one, check that it is part of the Christmas room allocation. Dogs may stay in rooms that open directly onto the garden, though they cannot go into the main public rooms.
2. The Old Millhouse, near Edinburgh: a swim spa and private dining
The Old Millhouse is in Dalkeith, about eight miles from Edinburgh. It suits a group that wants a country-house Christmas with the option of a day in the city; the listing puts the journey to Edinburgh at roughly 20 minutes. Back at the house, there is a year-round heated swim spa and a sauna. I’d be heading for those after a winter walk.
The advertised Christmas price is £6,995 for five nights. Arrival and departure dates are not specified in the offer, so check them before coordinating everyone’s journey. The house also has a concierge who can help arrange a private chef or tours of Scotland. Discuss the cost of either when booking rather than assuming they are part of the house price.
For a party of 12, ask one more question about the bedrooms. The listing advertises six bedrooms sleeping 12, but five bedrooms are in the main house. The sixth is a separate apartment with one bedroom over the owners’ mews, while the owner’s booking calendar describes the booked house as sleeping 10. Confirm that the apartment is included in the Christmas price if your group needs it.
All the bedrooms are upstairs, and the property says it is unsuitable for guests with limited mobility. It accepts up to two small dogs or one large dog. They cannot be left alone in the house or go into bedrooms or onto furniture, so this is one for dogs that enjoy being wherever their people are.
3. Bannerrigg, Lake District: a cinema for the whole group
Bannerrigg in Windermere has a strong case for the Christmas film crowd. Its cinema seats 18 in the cellar, enough for all 16 guests the house can accommodate. An eight-seat hot tub in a separate building gives the people who lost the film vote another option.
The seven-night stay runs from 21 to 28 December and is advertised at £5,867, with a stated saving of £550. The cooking and dining spaces are useful for a gathering this size. The farmhouse-style kitchen has a three-oven Aga and a range cooker; the dining table seats up to 20. After dinner, the lounge seats 16 around an open fire. Everyone can eat together without pulling chairs in from other rooms.
Those 16 guests share five bedrooms. The beds are single divans that can be pushed together, but the listing says arranging them that way is not offered as a service. It is worth working out the room plan before booking, especially if your party includes couples. Up to two dogs are accepted, while the house lists no special accessibility facilities.
A full week gives you time to enjoy being in the Lake District as well as being together for Christmas Day. With the kitchen, dining room and cinema set up for the whole party, Bannerrigg is the pick here for a group that plans to cook its own big Christmas meal.
4. Elm Grove Country House, Pembrokeshire: dinner for 21
The dining room at Elm Grove Country House seats up to 22, which is a reassuring detail when the family guest list keeps growing. This Georgian house in St Florence sleeps 21 people in 11 en-suite bedrooms. It also has a licensed bar and a games room with two pool tables and table tennis, so everyone needn’t spend the whole evening at the dining table.
Christmas is an unusual chance to book it self-catered. Elm Grove ordinarily offers catered exclusive-use stays, but its Christmas self-catering offer covers 23 to 28 December. The minimum is three nights at £2,000 per night, making the shortest advertised stay £6,000. Confirm your preferred dates within that window before organising travel for the group.
Wood panelling and plaster cornicing give the public rooms plenty of character for a long Christmas lunch. Tenby and Saundersfoot are about three miles away, so you can plan a coastal outing while staying in a village country house. It is a near-the-sea choice rather than a beachfront one.
Two ground-floor bedrooms are described as appropriate for guests with mobility limitations, though they are not wheelchair-friendly. Pets are not accepted. For a large group that wants to set its own Christmas menu, the rare self-catering arrangement is the reason I’d look closely at Elm Grove.
5. Hembal Manor, Cornwall: a week with your own bar
At £2,995 for seven nights from 21 December, Hembal Manor is tempting if everyone can commit to a full week. The sixteenth-century, Grade II-listed manor near St Austell sleeps 16 in eight bedrooms, with a dining table that seats all 16. Four bedrooms are en suite; there is also a family bathroom and a further shower room.
The extra that might win over the group is a private bar inside the manor. There is a games room with a full-size pool table and darts, while separate sitting and drawing rooms give people somewhere quieter to go. The owner’s site also lists a sauna and Jacuzzi. Outside, the grounds extend over six acres of gardens and woodland.
Carlyon Bay is about three miles away, and Charlestown is nearby for a trip out. Afternoon tea and catering can be arranged, though the advertised Christmas price is for the self-catering stay. Pets are not accepted. If your group wants a whole week under one roof, Hembal has the lowest advertised total price of these five houses.
