But Matthew is the head of arts and historic collections at Chatsworth and that involves not only caring for the priceless sculptures, treasures and Old Masters, but also overseeing the annual Christmas decorations.

So, while the rest of us were taking shelter from the summer showers, Matthew and head housekeeper Christine Robinson spent two very wet afternoons trudging across muddy fields in search of the perfect trees. And, while most had hardly begun to plan their Christmas festivities, the two were up to their elbows in baubles, spray paint and fairy lights.

The result, which opened to the public last week, is a glittering testament to their efforts – and to the input of the entire Chatsworth team.

This year's theme is The First Noël, based on a book by artist Jan Pienkowski. The idea to create lifesize tableaux of the intricate paper silhouettes came from head of communications Simon Seligman.

The artist agreed to lend his support and computer images of the five silhouettes were enlarged to ten times their size. Then wooden templates were cut by the estate carpenters, sprayed white by the house painters and carefully back-lit by the electricians.

"It's a real triumph, taking these very beautiful miniatures and blowing them up into a huge scale – it's a bit like Chatsworth itself," says Matthew.

The silhouettes appear at strategic places along the visitor route of the stately home. They are interspersed with a magical mix of greenery, lights and those spectacular trees.

This year's decorations start even before visitors reach the doors – for the first time trees lining the approach to the house have been lit. Once inside, visitors are enveloped in the pungent aroma of pine sap, spices and candle wax.

There are tunnels of greenery, frosted twigs and twinkling lights; magnificent arrangements of grasses, branches, fruits and flowers, produced by the gardeners. The Oak Room has been given over to a sparkling display of contemporary British silverware – part of the Galvanize Sheffield festival – and there are so many highlights that superlatives become redundant.

Local schools, as usual, play their part in the decorations: panels have been produced by primary schools in Stoney Middleton, Pilsley, Baslow and Great Longstone.

And the Devonshire family too have joined in.

The Duke and Duchess's grandchildren have decorated a tree with woolly lambs and fluffy baubles and the couple themselves each took up the challenge to decorate a tree in the Sculpture Gallery.

The Duke's reflects his interest in the garden, featuring silver-painted holly and cones and crowned with a giant seedhead.

The Duchess's tree, inspired by Pienkowski's sculptures, is a geometric tower of white-sprayed rhododendron branches, adorned with black feathers and silver tinsel.

Finally, the display concludes with a 27ft tree, which needed scaffolding to place the hundreds of baubles on it.

"To have this number of trees and rooms of this size means you can really go to town," says Matthew. "Our aim was to achieve the 'wow' factor. We want people to be overpowered by the scale of the trees; to create this sense of drama and intrigue with the sculptures."

Chatsworth is open every day until December 23; last admission 4.30pm.



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