For this week’s nostalgia, we are going back six years to when an unique news item made national headlines for its peculiar reasons.

In November 2016 a gingerbread and icing sculpture of Waddesdon Manor was made by the Notting Hill-based bakery, Biscuiteers.

The model of the National Trust building took more than 500 hours to put together.

Bucks Free Press: The gingerbread house took 15 months to make (BBC Archive)

One of the bakers, Cassie Merrick, said: “To put it together and make is structurally sound with gingerbread was no mean feat.

“We call our team ‘biscuit architects’ because they are incredibly talented at seeing something from the beginning to the end.

“When you see the building, you see all the paintings and all the other intricate details which are incredibly hard to do, but they all managed to achieve it.”

Bucks Free Press: Cassie Merrick spoke to the BBC about the project

Work began on creating the massive snack 15 months prior in August 2015.

One of the rooms the bakers primarily focused on was the Portico bedroom inside the building, which was a frequently visited by former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

This was due to the fact that it was the only room at the residency to have a balcony, which he would regularly use when he decided to have a smoke.

In all, the entire project consumed 240 eggs, 216kg of icing and more than 30 kilos of butter and sugar were needed.

But why?

Why was this needed in the first place?

The reason for the gargantuan gingerbread house was for that year’s Christmas season, which opened to the public that week.

The massive project was a key ingredient in helping pull in new visitors, and it certainly worked as the house became one of the main attractions.

Pippa Shirley, who worked at the manor, added: “I think it’s just the detail of the miniature collection.

“The fact that you have got the Starenburg Room which has got our great porcelain services, and the little individual plates, the paintings on the walls are all there and even the carpets are all right.”

“It’s so recognisable.

“It’s so enchanting.”

Despite the festival being focused around Christmas, the gingerbread house was on display until March 2017.

Waddesdon Manor first opened in 1883 six years after construction began in 1877.

Today in 2022, it averages just under half-a-million visitors on an annual basis, with its Grade I listed building being one of the main attractions in the county, and even across the whole of the UK.

The building is located in the village of Waddesdon which is within the Aylesbury Vale and it’s one of the National Trust’s most frequently-visited buildings.

To watch the full news item, visit www.bbcrewind.co.uk and search for Waddesdon Manor.