Couple transform terraced home into Home Alone-style Christmas wonderland

Elliot Smith and his partner Tasha Quick, from Stafford, have created a stunning winter wonderland at their home which includes a mini Christmas village and 16 feet trees

A couple have told how this year they have gone "above and beyond" in creating an incredible winter wonderland at their home complete with 5,000 lights and 16 feet high trees.

Elliot Smith, 32, and his partner Tasha Quick, 33, love decorating their home in Stafford for occasions across the year, including Halloween when they terrified local children with their 'haunted house. To mark the festive season, they have now spent the last month and hundreds of pounds transforming their property into a mini Christmas village, complete with reindeer, a hand-built sleigh, large 16 feet trees, giant nutcrackers, candy canes and a shop where kids can buy sweets.

They are also raising money for charity with their festive display, and have so far collected £2,000. Their home is lit up for five hours each day, as Elliot says they've gone 'above and beyond'.

"As soon as Halloween decorations came down, the Christmas lights start going up. It took me a week to get the Halloween stuff down and then probably a month to create this," the dad-of-three said. "We’ve got at least 5,000 lights on the house. We've done it previously but we've gone a lot bigger this year, we’ve gone above and beyond."

Elliot explained: "We built a full scale sleigh this and we’ve got Santa's village with a post office to write letters to Santa and a workshop. There's also Santa’s shop where you can buy sweets and Christmas decorations where we’re raising money. Then we have Snowman's Avenue which is like the North Pole and about seven light up reindeers around the trees. It’s nice and festive, we all love it."

Elliot joked that the Christmas decorations are to compensate for frightening so many children at Halloween. Their eerie display and maze had to be restricted to over 18s only after a trial run with some children left them scared, reports the Manchester Evening News.

He continued: "It has definitely gone from one extreme to the other. We do both of them for people to enjoy, I’ve had a few people visiting for Christmas who say they were at Halloween too, but they all seem to love it." Despite having at least 5,000 lights, Elliot says it only costs him £15 a week in electricity and he handcrafts a lot of his decorations to save on expenses.

Elliot, who works in construction added: "It’s pretty bright, so you might need to bring your sunglasses. But it’s probably costing me £15 a week to run them all, they’re all LEDs and low wattage. They’re only on for five hours a day. I think a lot of people think it costs a lot to run them, but it doesn’t take a lot. They don’t cost as much as people think. I spend around £400 on lights and decorations each year, a lot of it I make myself."

He added: "We have worked with a lot of companies this year, Travis Perkins, MKM to name a few, have all provided me with the materials to make the sleigh. I must have had £500 worth of material donated. It’s a lot of paint and time thought, a lot of effort goes into it."

The couple are raising funds for Hearts and Hands, which supports families in Stafford and its surrounding villages. Elliot added: "They are a local charity that provide support to low income working or retired people, people on zero-hour contracts, blue light workers and armed forces who are struggling with the cost of living and need a bit of help. They are managed solely by volunteers and rely on donations."