💖 Community Magic: The Groups Bringing Fairytales to Life at Tyntesfield
1 December 2025
This Christmas, Tyntesfield invites visitors to step into a festive fairytale with Once Upon a Christmas Time. From the Welcome Building to the Kitchen Garden, the estate has been transformed into a warm and enchanting storybook world, through innovative installations and magical storytelling, offering a Christmas experience like no other.
To create this experience Super Culture has partnered with community groups across North Somerset, to commission imaginative versions of beloved fairytales, infused with a Tyntesfield twist.
Ronnie Houselander-Cook, who worked with a team of 38 Weston College students and technicians, shared some insight into their process:
“To work on our project, we have read different cultural retellings from across the world, took part in collaborative storyboarding workshops, made 200 ceramic mushrooms, and worked hard to cut each artwork out by hand.”
“This project marks the first public-facing work for many of the students who only started college in September.
“This has been the largest and most ambitious work the students have ever undertaken… The process has been challenging, but everyone has approached it with remarkable ambition and creativity. The dedication and imagination they’ve shown are truly something to be proud of.”
When asked what they hope visitors will take away, Ronnie explained: “We want visitors to enter a world where every artwork feels like a piece of someone’s imagination—shaped by the version of the story they grew up with. We also want to highlight that not every story ends happily, and that even in those endings there are lessons, reflections, and glimpses of deeper truths waiting to be discovered.”
Scroll down to find out more about the fantastic communities weaving their own magic into the Tyntesfield estate:
University Hospitals Bristol & Weston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with Jo Sinclair
Staff, patients and visitors from the UHBW NHS Foundation Trust have all helped to create this playful installation inspired by Rumpelstiltskin. Dementia patients have painted golden pots, and over 200 decoration kits have gone out across the Trust, enabling everyone to make their special mark. The shimmering results also remind us that in days gone by, the Aviary would have been home to golden-hued birds like European Goldfinches and Canaries – adored for their dazzling colours and sweet songs!
Alliance Homes’ community groups with Helen Wheelock
40 residents of Alliance Homes have created an installation project that highlights the themes of enduring love and quiet dedication. A princess’s eleven brothers have been turned into swans by a cruel spell. To release them, she knits magical shirts in silence – unravelling a curse with a ball of wool and a whole lot of love. You can catch Wild Swans in the Mansion Driveway.
Super Culture Youth Theatre & Paint the Stage music group with Angela Athay-Hunt and Paula Birtwistle. Composition and Sound Design by Joseff Harris. Animation and projection by Jonathan Street.
Over 90 participants in our theatre and music groups have collaborated to create a brand new fairytale, The Girl who Told Stories, which explores the story of a young girl called Mira, whose imagination unlocks a kaleidoscope of hidden colours and possibilities. This installation is a powerful testimony to the creativity of young people.
Next Gen & Refugees Welcome North Somerset with Alexia Dobre, Danish Bashir and Saifoulaye Diallo
10 young people from Next Gen youth club have collaborated with three artists to create a powerful installation inspired by the Romanian Folktale The Stag with the Star on his Forehead. Taking place in the Billiard Room, a shining star guides a young hero into a mystical forest, revealing lessons of courage, wisdom, and respect for nature. The installation celebrates how nature knows no boundaries – nourishing all places and people.
Students from Weston College with Ronnie Houselander-Cook
Immerse yourself into the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, and venture through the forest, where the woods can be full of surprises. Inspired by global retellings of this age old fairy tale the students have created an ambitious installation that includes over 200 ceramic mushrooms.
Neurodiverse Young People and Chapter One Writing Group with Ramona Eve. Sound Design by Abiel Bailie
Super Culture’s Chapter One creative writing group for adults have teamed up with neurodiverse young people from the area to create an installation that takes you into the party environment of the Palace Garden. Enjoy the glass bead branches in the rose trellis that were made by young people, and find some words amongst the flower beds that delve into the magical threshold between worlds that midnight represents. Spot Cinderella’s silver shoe and glittering pumpkin as you listen to a soundscape made by contributors about feeling shiny!
Weston Artspace with Abbie Edbrooke and Zara Lott
Three bears, three bowls of porridge, three chair, three beds … and three kitchens! Members of Weston Artspace invite you to guess which is too hot, which is too cold and which one is just right in their impressive Goldilocks and the Three Bears installation.
Chris Hope
In the Drawing Room, North Somerset sound artist Chris Hope has created the music backdrop for an immersive experience where people are invited to step through the wardrobe and discover a frozen realm where fantasy takes shape. Glittering snow catches the eye, fresh Christmas trees scent the air, and a lone streetlamp casts a warm, inviting glow.
Once Upon a Christmas Time shows that when communities create, the results are truly magical.
See more about this festive project via our event listing: https://superculture.org.uk/listings/once-upon-a-christmas-time/
Main image shows an installation from Cinderella at Tyntesfield. Photo credit Paul Blakemore (@blikmo)