Suffolk's Sutton Hoo is celebrating the Christmas season with a month of displays showing how the festival has been marked through the ages.

Visitors will be able to see the High Hall exhibition space decorated for a traditional Yule feast, share their own festive traditions and take part in a family-friendly trail, helping Edwin, a young Anglo-Saxon warrior, to prepare for the celebrations. 

East Anglian Daily Times: Yuletide was an important festival to the Anglo Saxons.Yuletide was an important festival to the Anglo Saxons. (Image: Phil Morley/National Trust)

In the run-up to Christmas, visitors to the site will be transported back in time to find out how the people buried at the Royal Burial Ground celebrated this time of year.  

East Anglian Daily Times: Displays show how Anglo Saxons celebrated Yuletide.Displays show how Anglo Saxons celebrated Yuletide. (Image: Phil Morley/National Trust)

The days around the winter solstice are believed to have been known as Géol - or Yule – and during the Anglo-Saxon period, this was considered a very important feast.  

Joshua Ward, Senior Visitor Experience Officer at Sutton Hoo, says: “The actual customs of yule are very similar to many of the customs we celebrate today. 

East Anglian Daily Times: Visitors will be able to leave their own Christmas memories at Sutton Hoo.Visitors will be able to leave their own Christmas memories at Sutton Hoo. (Image: Phil Morley/National Trust)

“Research has suggested that the Anglo-Saxons almost certainly decorated with evergreen plants - including holly, ivy and mistletoe. 

"Evidence of lyres and has been found in several high-status burials from the period, including at Sutton Hoo. They may well have produced the Christmas number ones of their day!” 

East Anglian Daily Times: Students will create a path of lanterns to the burial ground.Students will create a path of lanterns to the burial ground. (Image: Robin Pattinson)

As part of the celebrations, the path to the Royal Burial Ground will be decorated with lanterns produced by students from Suffolk New College.

Tranmer House, the former home of Edith Pretty, who commissioned the 1939 dig, has also been decorated - complete with ‘tape measure tinsel’ and handmade decorations marking an archaeologist’s Christmas. 

East Anglian Daily Times: Traditional homemade decorations on the tree at Sutton Hoo's Tranmer House.Traditional homemade decorations on the tree at Sutton Hoo's Tranmer House. (Image: Darren Olley/National Trust)

Its rooms have been decorated in different styles of 20th century decorations from the 1930s to the 1980s.

Yule at Sutton Hoo takes place on weekends (except Christmas Eve) and daily between December 26 and January 1. The estate walks and adventure playground are also be open daily (except December 24 and 25).