Sible Hedingham mum adorns house with Halloween decorations

Joanne Smith, from Sible Hedingham, regularly transforms her house to celebrate seasonal holidays.

This year it has already seen her mark Easter and the Platinum Jubilee, splashing out more than £30,000 on decorations over the years.

Last year alone she spent about £6,000 for Christmas, which Joanne described as her favourite holiday.

She said: “Halloween is great, not as good as Christmas for me but a close second.

“Any excuse to decorate I do it, I have just always loved it.

“People in the village also love it, my niece recently started at Holy Trinity and one of the parents recognised me as 'the Halloween lady' which was great.

“So there is also the love from the village and their desire to see me keep bringing it back, the children love it.

“Some even as far as Finchingfield and Wethersfield come to the decorations it each year.”

This year Joanne has spent about £700 on Halloween, adding to her already large collection, which now totals about £1,500 overall.

There are giant inflatable pumpkins outside standing about 7ft tall, 6ft witches inside the kitchen, as well as large spiders and cobwebs, ghosts, skulls, and various other pumpkins of all shapes and sizes.

Joanne will also be spending money on Halloween goody bags for trick or treaters.

She said: “I will be gearing up for trick or treaters as we are expecting them as normal.

“Last year we did goody bags, but they were gone by about 6.30pm so I had to dash out and get more, I am preparing for that too.

“I am looking forward to the night.”

Following Halloween, Joanne will be straight into Christmas mode, preparing the tinsel, Christmas ornaments and other festive items.

So far, she has spent about £7,000, with plans to make it the biggest Christmas yet.

She said: “Christmas will be big this year, I always hope to make each year bigger and better.

“I love other holidays, but Christmas will always be the best.”