Houses decorated for Christmas

In December, Lulu Benson welcomes her extended family to Neidpath Castle in the Scottish Borders, where they celebrate the season with reeling and feasting in the vaulted medieval hall

Interior designer Martin Brudnizki and his art consultant partner Jonathan Brook like to let their imaginations run riot at home in West Sussex, especially at this time of year. Part of a large 17th-century house in West Sussex, their flat, with its grand proportions and ornate original features, provides the perfect backdrop for indulging their lavish, country-house decorating dreams.

Transforming a brutalist flat in the Barbican into a warm, festive space is no mean feat, but interior designer Tom Morris has risen to the challenge

Marie-Louise Sjögren’s historic house on the Stockholm archipelago was built as a summer retreat, but her family now enjoy the tranquil location in comfort all year round–especially at Christmas

Christmas at this Edwardian country house, where Flora spent her childhood Christmases and now returns with her own family, is all about comfortable informality and making new memories from old traditions

At her farm in the Cotswolds Amanda Brooks and her husband Christopher have used reclaimed materials and furniture from a past life to turn a former piggery into a charming guest cottage. Here is how she decorates it for Christmas.

The food writer and tableware designer usually spends Christmas in her apartment in a 17th-century palazzo in Venice, where we visited her for a special festive edition of Design Notes

Richard E Grant's house in Richmond is filled with an abundance of treasures that the actor acquired with his late wife Joan - antiques, artefacts, paintings, books, dolls and the odd souvenir from his film career. And, at Christmas, the colourful interiors are given a maximalist boost with lavish decorations

At this former rectory in the West Country, foraged Christmas decorations and salvaged materials enhance the sense of a house that has been made suitable for modern family life, while retaining its Victorian character

Deep in the Mendip Hills, garden designer Sean Pritchard has turned a labourer's dwelling into a charming home

Usually at Christmas, Studio Indigo founder Mike Fisher thinks nothing of entertaining 50 people at Ven, his eighteenth-century country house in Somerset

Henriette von Stockhausen’s decoration of this Regency house in the West Country combines sensitively restored elements with beautiful fabrics and wallpapers to create an elegant setting for family gatherings

For Alice and Julian Kennard, preparing for Christmas at Forde Abbey is a communal activity, as everyone works together to decorate the 900-year-old house with foliage and flowers from the estate

On a hillside in Florence, the villa that the Caponi family has lived in for 50 years tells a story that spans three generations and contains beautiful antiques and artworks collected over a lifetime.

Since arriving just in time for Christmas two years ago, Jeremy Langmead and Simon Rayner have transformed their 17th-century Cumbrian farmhouse into an inviting rural bolthole, which strikes the perfect balance between artful restraint and festive cheer

Florist Paul Hawkins has created a comfortable country cottage in town at his Chelsea house, filling it with his signature sophisticated arrangements for the festive season

When it comes to decorating for Christmas, Duncan Campbell and Luke Edward Hall favour a more is more approach and add further layers of colour and visual interest to their jewel box cottage.

At the foot of the Teton Pass in Wyoming, USA, photographer Lisa Flood and her interior designer Emily Janak have created a home that combines the best of Western design with some serious French sophistication 

Gabby Deeming and Ruth Sleightholme create rustic, candlelit schemes in a Shropshire barn, featuring antique painted furniture, patterned textiles and evergreen foliage

Chelsea Textiles founder Mona Perlhagen and her daughter, Jenny, have transformed an eighteenth-century country house into the company design centre and an elegant family home