Philippa's Homecoming Reindeer
Philippa's Homecoming Reindeer
🐝 Gives wild bees a safe nesting home
🌸 3× more pollination than honeybees
🪵 Solid, untreated cedar — built to last
☔ Copper roof keeps tunnels dry
🌿 Chemical-free, natural materials only
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Philippa's Homecoming Reindeer
Made by hand in Rothbury, Northumberland · since 1990
A little evergreen reindeer that lies by your door and glows until everyone’s home.
Philippa’s final batch · Only 316 left“I make every one as if it’s going to my own front door.” – Philippa
“People always ask me why mine lie down. Because a reindeer standing on the lawn looks like a decoration. One lying by the door looks like it’s waiting for you.”
– Philippa Fenwick, 68, Rothbury, Northumberland
What arrives at your door
- ✦1 Homecoming Reindeer, lying down, about 60 cm long and 55 cm tall to the tips of the antlers
- ✦Warm-white fairy lights already woven through the greenery – nothing to string up yourself
- ✦Battery box, tucked out of sight under the greenery
- ✦Remote control to switch the lights on and off from across the room
- ✦Cream burlap bow with a real-look pinecone and a little brass bell, tied on by Philippa
- ✦Packed by hand by Imogen and Callum, so the antlers and greenery arrive in shape
What makes Philippa’s reindeer different
No. 01
A frame bent by hand
Every reindeer starts as plain wire that Philippa bends into shape herself – the folded legs, the long neck, the turned head. That’s why it lies flat and steady instead of wobbling.
No. 02
Layered like feathers
Hundreds of soft faux-cedar sprigs – artificial, but they look just like real needles – go on one by one, each overlapping the last, so no wire shows through from any side.
No. 03
Light from the inside
The fairy lights are threaded through the greenery, not wrapped around the outside. The reindeer glows softly from within instead of looking like it’s tangled in a light string.
No. 04
Antlers like weathered branches
Shaped and coloured to look like twigs from the woods, so the reindeer looks like it walked out of the trees behind the workshop.
No. 05
The bow, the pinecone, the bell
A cream burlap bow sits around the neck with a pinecone in the middle and a little brass bell underneath – the finishing touch Philippa ties on last.
No. 06
Green every December
Faux cedar doesn’t shed, doesn’t dry out and doesn’t turn brown. Pack it away in January, and it comes out looking the same next Christmas.
How to set it up
- 1Unpack and fluff. Lift the reindeer out by its body, not the antlers. Gently fluff any sprigs that were pressed flat in the box.
- 2Batteries in, switch on. Open the little battery box under the greenery, pop in the batteries, then turn the lights on and off with the remote.
- 3Pick its spot. Beside the front door, on the doorstep, in the hallway or next to the fireplace. Switch it on at dusk – that’s when it looks its best.
A mass-made light-up deer vs. Philippa’s reindeer
| Mass-made deer | Philippa’s reindeer | |
|---|---|---|
| Frame | Thin pressed wire, often wobbly | Bent by hand, lies flat and steady |
| Greenery | Tinsel or a few sprigs, frame shows through | Hundreds of faux-cedar sprigs, layered by hand |
| Lights | Cold white, wrapped around the outside | Warm white, woven through from inside |
| Face | Blank or cartoonish | Dark eyes and nose, gentle and watchful |
| Details | Plastic ribbon, if any | Burlap bow, pinecone and brass bell |
| Who made it | A machine | Philippa, one at a time, in her workshop |
Made by hand in Rothbury
Philippa Fenwick has worked in the same old stone byre outside Rothbury, in the hills of Northumberland, since 1990. It started with wreaths and garlands for the neighbours. Then people began asking for “something for the front door” – and the Homecoming Reindeer was born.
In 36 Christmases she has bent, wrapped and lit more than 11,000 of them. Now her hands are telling her it’s time to stop. At the end of November she closes the workshop for good, and the 316 reindeer from her final batch are the last there will ever be. Her grandchildren Imogen and Callum keep posting them until the last one is gone.
“I’m not trying to get rich off the last ones. I just want them lying by front doors where somebody’s glad to see them.”
Philippa Fenwick
Perfect for
Philippa’s standard
- ✓Every frame bent and every sprig placed by hand
- ✓Every reindeer switched on and checked before it’s boxed
- ✓Packed by hand and dispatched within 1–2 working days
- ✓Only 316 left from the final batch – no restock, ever
30-day money-back guarantee. Bring the reindeer home and see how it looks by your door. If it doesn’t win you over, send it back within 30 days and get your money back. No questions asked.
Care & use
Indoors or in a sheltered spot by the door. The faux greenery handles cold and frost just fine. Keep the battery box dry and shake off heavy snow.
After Christmas: switch off, take out the batteries and store the reindeer lying down in its box, somewhere dry.
Every one is handmade, so the layering of the sprigs and the shape of the antlers vary slightly from reindeer to reindeer.
Product details
| Size | About 60 cm long × 55 cm tall (incl. antlers), lying down |
| Greenery | Faux cedar that looks like real needles, on a hand-bent wire frame |
| Lights | Warm-white LED fairy lights, battery-operated, with remote control |
| Details | Branch-look antlers, burlap bow, pinecone, brass bell |
| Use | Indoors and sheltered outdoor spots |
| Made by | Philippa Fenwick, Rothbury, Northumberland |
| Delivery | Dispatched within 1–2 working days (Royal Mail) |
| Guarantee | 30-day money-back guarantee |
