The Christmas Doors of Teddington 2016

The Christmas Doors of Teddington are 24 miniature doors located around the town during Advent, mostly in shops. Each conceals a picture associated with the Christmas story.

They give an extra dimension of excitement to the run-up to Christmas for children (and their parents/carers) as they search for these miniature doors all around the town. For 2016, the doors are 'open' from Thursday 24 November until Christmas and can be visited in any order. Each shop with a door (listed below) will have a stock of leaflets showing where to find all the shops with doors. Those on the search have to visit each of the 23 shops where the doors are hidden, find each door, and get a sticker on their leaflet from each shop. They can then visit the last door and collect a Christmas prize from Teddington Baptist Church. The doors are tiny, and they will have to look very hard to find them but over 150 prizes were given out in 2015! Click to see what happened in previous years with Christmas Doors: 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Places with Christmas Doors in 2016 Fun Factory, 14 The Causeway Teddington Photographic, 17 Broad Street Vidatherapy, 6 Church Road Budgens, 31-33 High Street Cavan Bakery, 111 Stanley Road Fabric House, 1 Broad Street Stepping on Out, 7 The Causeway Sidra Patisserie, 5 Church Road Cavan Bakery, 25 High Street Teddington Osteopaths, 146 Stanley Road Moores Cycles, 214-216 Kingston Road Happy Potter, 14 Broad Street Sims Opticians, 4 The Causeway Quality Grocers, 124 High Street The Loft, 16 Broad Street Snellers, 74 Broad Street Milestone Residential, 43 High Street Urban Suburban, 8 Broad Street Jack Brunsdon & Son, 18 High Street Johnson's Shoes, 60-62 Broad Street Hillstop Café, 78 Broad Street Tipplesworth, 12 Church Road K C Pharmacy, 23 Broad Street Teddington Baptist Church, 17 Church Road

place mouse over picture above to see the door better

Background Notes
The idea of the Christmas doors originated from two separate sources. The first was the Living Advent, an export from Stockholm which has now run for two years in Henley-Upon-Thames. This scheme involved twenty-three local businesses putting on a display or entertainment of some kind in their shop doorway/ window at 6.15pm from 1^st - 23^rd December. On 24^th, the final 'door' was opened in the parish church.

The second inspiration for the Christmas Doors of Teddington came from the town of Ann Arbor in Michigan USA. In 2005, one or two small 'fairy doors' began appearing in shops around the town (see the Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor). There are now lots of them, and tourists travel from miles around with their children to visit them.

The Christmas Doors of Teddington is a joint venture by Teddington Baptist Church and Teddington Business Community. The doors were beautifully crafted by local toy company Le Toy Van and were then prepared and decorated by volunteers from Teddington Baptist Church.