Coughton Court's first family-run Christmas: house dressed, gardens lit, Father Christmas £25 a child, an £8 Evening with Santa. Dates not yet in print.
Christmas at Coughton is on sale: the Tudor house near Alcester will be dressed for the season, the gardens lit, and Father Christmas will visit on several days, with tickets from £25 per child. It is the first Christmas since the Throckmorton family took back the running of the house from the National Trust, and the prices and the rules have changed with it. What the family has not yet put in writing is the dates: they sit only inside the booking calendar.
The quick answer
- Christmas at Coughton: the house dressed in the Throckmorton family’s festive traditions, plus lit grounds. Adults £12.50, over 60s £12.50, children 5 to 15 £5.
- Meet Father Christmas: £25 per child, £12.50 per adult, house and garden included. Booking is essential.
- An Evening with Santa: in the stable yard, adults £8, children £3.50, with a local choir, hot chocolate, mulled wine and mince pies.
- Dates: not published on any page we could read on 13 October. They are in the booking calendar only. This page will be updated when they are printed.
- National Trust members: not free as a matter of course any more. See below.
Who runs Coughton now
The National Trust still owns Coughton Court, but the Throckmorton family, who have lived there for more than six hundred years, now run it. The Leamington Observer reported in February 2025 that the family “will resume the running of Coughton Court in 2026”, with the Trust ending a visitor operation it had run since 2005 (Leamington Observer).
That matters for Christmas because nearly every Coughton Christmas listing you will find online describes the National Trust years. Tickets are now sold on the family’s own booking site, not through the Trust.
Christmas at Coughton
In the family’s words, the house “will be beautifully dressed for the festive season, using inspiration from the Throckmorton family’s festive traditions”. The route through the house tells “stories of how the Throckmorton family have celebrated Christmas over time”, and the grounds and gardens “will be lit up for you to enjoy”, with new winter planting (Coughton Court, Christmas at Coughton).
| Christmas ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Adult (16+) | £12.50 |
| Concession (60+) | £12.50 |
| Child (5 to 15) | £5 |
Source: the Christmas at Coughton ticket page (Coughton Court).
Meet Father Christmas
Children meet Father Christmas inside the Tudor house, “share their Christmas wishes and enjoy a festive experience”. Booking is essential, and the tickets include the house and garden (Coughton Court, Meet Father Christmas).
| Meet Father Christmas | Price |
|---|---|
| Child | £25 |
| Adult | £12.50 |
| Concession | £12.50 |
The family’s own Christmas page says only that Father Christmas “will be visiting Coughton Court on several occasions throughout the festive season” and asks you to sign up to its newsletter to hear first when he is “landing”. No session dates or times are printed outside the booking calendar.
An Evening with Santa
A cheaper evening event in the stable yard: families meet Santa, a local choir sings, and there is hot chocolate, mulled wine, mince pies and seasonal snacks. Adults £8, children £3.50 (Coughton Court, An Evening with Santa). The page gives no date or start time.
Candlelit tours
The booking site also sells two candlelit tours of the house at £25 each, one of them themed on the Gunpowder Plot, the story most tied to Coughton. Each is capped at 15 tickets per booking. Neither page prints its dates (Coughton Court, events).
National Trust members: check before you go
Under the Trust, members walked in free. Now the family’s booking site offers members free entry on 10 “exclusive National Trust days” across 2026, on showing a membership card (Coughton Court National Trust Days). The site sells no other free member ticket, so on any other day, Christmas included, budget for a ticket. Coughton now has its own membership instead: £52 single or £125 for a family of four, both including parking (Coughton Court, memberships).
Opening hours
The booking site gives Coughton’s hours as Wednesday to Sunday: car park, café, shop and gardens 10am to 4.30pm, house 11am to 4pm with last entry at 3.30pm. It does not say whether the Christmas season keeps the same days, so check the calendar for the day you want before you set off (Coughton Court).
Outside Christmas, a standard adult ticket is £12.50 to £15.50 depending on the day, children £5 to £6.50, under 5s free, and a family ticket (two adults, two children) £40.
Getting there
Coughton Court is near Alcester, postcode B49 5JA, with its own car park. Coming from Stratford, the town’s car parks and charges are on our parking in Stratford-upon-Avon page, and current closures and works on the routes out of town are on our roadworks and travel page.
More Christmas near Stratford
- Charlecote Park at Christmas, the National Trust house east of town
- Compton Verney’s Gift Fair and candlelit concerts
- Santa’s grottos in Stratford, including Magic Alley and the Birthplace Trust’s grotto at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
- The Christmas market and the lights switch-on
Still to confirm
- The dates of Christmas at Coughton, Meet Father Christmas and An Evening with Santa. They are bookable but not printed on any page we could read.
- Christmas opening days, and whether the house closes over Christmas itself.
- Session times for Father Christmas.
We will add each as Coughton publishes it.
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