Lymm’s Wonder Adventures family on Channel 5 Christmas show

Wonder Adventures run online events and treasure hunt resources for early years and primary age kid. They are based in Statham.

And Helen and Brett Nurse - who run the company - featured on series one of the show with their family George, 14, Daisy, 12, and Charlie, aged five.

The show explores how the Victorian era celebrated Christmas and how it influenced how the festive season is enjoyed today.

The family, who live in Cheshire, visit an older house to do so and they discover which Victorian elements are due a revival or should be left in the past.

Before the Victoria Era, most of the celebrating was done on 12th night on January 5, but under Queen Victoria, Christmas came new ideas and inventions.

The family of five were tasked with decorating a Christmas tree as Prince Albert brought them over from Germany and the royals were followed in the masses.

They decorated the tree with fruit and given there was no electricity in Victorian homes, they used lit candles – which as you can imagine often set the tree alight.

“This is the best Christmas tree I’ve ever seen,” said Charlie.

They were also tasked with plucking and cooking a goose which Brett and George dealt with.

Charlie Nurse was amazed by their Victorian Christmas tree

The bird to eat was goose as a turkey was expensive – and later in the programme, the goose went down very well.

Helen and her two eldest made Victorian mince pies using a recipe from 1845 including ox tongue.

Toys were often handmade or children made own as there was little gift-giving at the start of Victoria reign and it was normally done on Christmas eve.

So, the eldest two got to work on making a parachute – though putting it to the test wasn’t as easy as first thought.

It was said that the half of Victorian period was about new traditions and in the second half, they were figuring out how to make money off of it.

Charles Dickens popularised Christmas with his A Christmas Carol book and Queen Victoria’s reign transformed Britain with festive spirit.

Dad Brett said: “We’re really, really lucky in modern life with Christmas because whether it’s online or Amazon, we can buy everything we need.

“The Victorians would have to work hard for it.

“It’s mind-boggling how much time and effort it would have been to get it right, but I bet it was more rewarding for it because we have it really easy."

Daisy particularly enjoyed the crafts element and found it enjoyable

Whereas mum Helen loved the family time spent.

She added: “My favourite bit of celebrating a Victorian Christmas was the time together and everything that you do together as a family.

“The whole process of it just makes it more special.”

The full programme can be found here.