Since 1862, four generations of British monarchs have visited Sandringham Estate, their beloved country home.
The sprawling locale is the private retreat of Her Majesty The Queen of England, Elizabeth II. The house is the crowning jewel of the 20,000-acre treasure on the coast of Norfolk, England, and for good reason.
Norfolk local Margaret Seaman is intimately familiar with the estate. The 92-year-old great-great-grandmother has spent the past year and a half working on a massive replica of Sandringham made entirely out of yarn!
Her impressive project started at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing months of isolation and lockdowns, Margaret was looking for a way to keep busy. She also wanted to help out the struggling health care heroes working for the National Health System and started brainstorming how she could raise money for them.
An avid knitter, Margaret settled on recreating the queen’s country home – and then spent up to 15 hours each day working on it!
The result is a 16-by-10-foot knitted Sandringham House surrounded by its extensive grounds. St. Mary Magdalene Church, where the royal family attends Christmas mass, is featured prominently, as are the estate’s vast English gardens and the Nest summer house.
The attention to detail is astounding! There are individual leaves on the trees, flowers on the ground, and even small models of visitors and the royal family scattered about.
Margaret made everything herself, getting just a little help from her daughter and her best friend on some of the small details. While it was a lot of work, she thoroughly enjoyed the project as it kept her content throughout the pandemic.
“Although we were in lockdown I was never bored, or never wished I could go out or anything, I was quite happy at home knitting Sandringham – I thoroughly enjoyed it,” Margaret said.
When she’d finished the “wooly wonder,” she submitted it to the Norfolk Makers’ Festival and raised £8,000 (about $11,000) for three Norfolk NHS hospitals’ charity funds!
From there, the homemade masterpiece traveled to Sandringham House’s ballroom, where it will be on display for the public until October 14. One of the first guests to view it was none other than the queen herself!
The 95-year-old monarch recently paid a visit to the estate and was reportedly delighted by Margaret’s creation. “That was absolutely wonderful, she seemed to enjoy it very much,” Margaret said.
Margaret is now on to other projects, but she’s hopeful that all the positive publicity the knitted Sandringham has received will encourage even more donations to the NHS!
This has to be one of the greatest crafting projects ever! Learn more about her masterpiece in the video below, and share this story to give your friends some serious #KnittingGoals.
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