July 15, 2026
A marquee British IP is taking over a 900-year-old estate for the Christmas season, and the castle is not charging extra for it.
Leeds Castle (Maidstone, England) will host “Wallace & Gromit: A Cracking Christmas Caper” from November 21, 2026, through January 3, 2027, a brand-new immersive experience across the castle and grounds. And, it comes included with standard admission.
The full reveal is being held for early September, which is also the month Aardman turns 50.
What Is A Cracking Christmas Caper?
The partners have confirmed the dates, that the experience runs through both the castle and its grounds, and that it comes with the standard ticket, available through the castle’s site. Everything else is being saved for the September announcement.
“Christmas at Leeds Castle has always been something special, but this year we are taking it to a whole new level,” said Mark Delin, Marketing and Events Director at Leeds Castle Foundation. He added that the castle “cannot think of better company than the iconic Wallace & Gromit to help us create a Christmas experience that will delight families, bring generations together and make memories that last long after the decorations come down.”
Leeds Castle is a working heritage attraction run by the not-for-profit Leeds Castle Foundation, and the release calls it one of the most-visited historic attractions in Britain.
Why Wallace & Gromit?
The latest special, “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” premiered on BBC One on Christmas Day 2024 and drew 21.6 million views in 28 days, the most-watched animation on British TV since records began. Aardman, the employee-owned Bristol studio co-founded in 1976 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, has kept the pair on the BBC’s festive schedule for 35 years, collecting three Academy Awards and eight BAFTAs along the way.
Molly Van Den Brink, Senior Attractions and Live Experiences Manager at Aardman, explained that Wallace & Gromit are “synonymous with a cosy Christmas.” She said the studio is “excited to be developing a brand-new, seasonal experience with Leeds Castle which invites guests to explore the site like never before.”
The duo also has a track record of physical attraction. A permanent Wallace & Gromit ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach carries over 500,000 riders per year, according to the release.
Included With Admission
Licensed Christmas experiences of this scale usually require a separate hard ticket, but Leeds Castle went the other way, which dovetails with recent stories we’ve covered about historic facilities partnering with IPs to bring in new audiences.
Folding the headline experience into standard admission encourages new audiences to attend and allows the castle to upsell into an annual membership. Also, it puts every UK family weighing a paid Christmas event against a castle where the marquee experience simply comes with entry.
It also extends a pattern we covered when the Pokémon Fossil Museum opened at the Field Museum: heritage and cultural institutions licensing marquee IP to pull family audiences the venue cannot reach on its own. The museums are doing it to drive attendance. Leeds Castle is doing it to establish itself as a Christmas destination.
What Happens in September
Aardman’s 50th-anniversary month is when the castle shows its hand, and the reveal will ride a much bigger Aardman publicity wave: a new Shaun the Sheep feature, “The Beast of Mossy Bottom,” launches the same autumn, per the release. Until then, the open question is scope. “Immersive journey through the castle and grounds” could describe a character trail or a full theatrical production, and September will show which one Leeds Castle paid for.
