Inside Midland house transformed into Christmas winter wonderland

Jordan Coussins
·3-min read
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A couple who previously transformed their home into the UK's most terrifying Halloween house have now turned it into a Christmas winter wonderland to 'makeup for terrifying kids'. Elliot Smith, 32, and his partner Tasha Quick, 33, had scared local children with their spooky decorations in October.

To make amends, they've now created an impressive festive display featuring 5,000 lights and Christmas decorations. The Stafford-based pair spent weeks and hundreds of pounds turning their home into a mini Christmas village, which is now open for families to visit.

Their festive creation includes reindeer, a hand-built sleigh, towering 16ft (5m) trees, giant nutcrackers, candy canes and a shop where children can buy sweets. The couple are raising money for charity with their stunning display, which is lit up for five hours each day, and have so far raised £2,000.

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Dad-of-three Elliot said: "As soon as Halloween decorations came down, the Christmas lights start going up", "It took me a week to get the Halloween stuff down and then probably a month to create this.

"We’ve got at least 5,000 lights on the house. We've done it previously but we've gone a lot bigger this year, we’ve gone above and beyond.

"We built a full scale sleigh this and we’ve got Santa's village with a post office to write letters to Santa and a workshop. There's also Santa’s shop where you can buy sweets and Christmas decorations where we’re raising money.

"Then we have Snowman's Avenue which is like the North Pole and about seven light up reindeers around the trees. It’s nice and festive, we all love it."

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Elliot quipped that the Christmas decorations are to compensate for frightening so many children at Halloween. Their eerie display and maze had to be restricted to over 18s only after a trial with some children left them too scared.

He continued: "It has definitely gone from one extreme to the other. We do both of them for people to enjoy, I’ve had a few people visiting for Christmas who say they were at Halloween too, but they all seem to love it."

Despite boasting at least 5,000 lights, Elliot discloses it only costs him £15 a week in electricity and he handcrafts a lot of his decorations to save on expenses. Elliot, who works in construction, added: "It’s pretty bright, so you might need to bring your sunglasses."

"But it’s probably costing me £15 a week to run them all, they’re all LEDs and low wattage. They’re only on for five hours a day. I think a lot of people think it costs a lot to run them, but it doesn’t take a lot. They don’t cost as much as people think.

"I spend around £400 on lights and decorations each year, a lot of it I make myself. We have worked with a lot of companies this year, Travis Perkins, MKM to name a few, have all provided me with the materials to make the sleigh.

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"I must have had £500 worth of material donated. It’s a lot of paint and time thought, a lot of effort goes into it."

The couple are fundraising for Hearts and Hands, a charity supporting families in Stafford and nearby villages. Elliot further explained: "They are a local charity that provide support to low income working or retired people, people on zero-hour contracts, blue light workers and armed forces who are struggling with the cost of living and need a bit of help."

"They are managed solely by volunteers and rely on donations."

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