Creating a Cotswolds-Inspired Gingerbread Cottage

Every December, our feeds begin to fill with gingerbread houses—some baked from scratch with stained-glass windows, others built like tiny storybook cottages. And while the tradition is always sweet (even when the walls lean a little), there’s something special about having a simple, beautiful house on display throughout the season.

This year, we’re sharing an easy, foolproof way to create a gingerbread house that feels thoughtful without the pressure of perfection. It’s the kind of project you can do on your own with a cup of tea, or gathered around the table with family—slow, playful, and full of room for your own touch.

We started with a gingerbread kit. As charming as homemade dough is, the precise cuts and sturdy pieces take time that most of us don’t have in December. This kit made the process simple, and the icing actually held everything together (no collapsing roofs by the 20th).

If you want something even sturdier, you can use melted sugar as a “mortar.” Just heat a cup of sugar on medium until it melts into a golden syrup—careful to watch closely so it doesn’t burn. Dip the edges of the gingerbread into the syrup and your house will stay put all season. Here is the recipe we followed.

Or, if you’re not planning to eat the house, a small amount of hot glue works wonders with almost no mess.

With your house assembled we can begin to decorate.  We picked up a tub of Betty Crocker vanilla frosting—nothing fancy—and used a palette knife to frost all the sides. Any type of frosting would work, but we liked the consistency of Betty Crocker. Running the back of a spoon in soft vertical strokes added a subtle texture that felt like wood panelling.

Next, we used cereal to act as shingles for our house. Anything square will do, however. You could use square pretzels or cut wafer cookies to get really adorable results. We opted for Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal – the sugar and cinnamon just made it look as though snow had frozen on the shingle roof and we were in love! We used the icing from the gingerbread house kit again and staggered the shingles to make it look even more intricate. Time consuming, but so easy with such a stunning result!

Now’s the fun part – the decorating. Since we’ve covered all the outlines on the house with icing, you really have free reign to do whatever you like. This can be intimidating for some, so we can break down exactly items we chose. However, we’d recommend going to the bulk section of your food store and getting inspired by what you find there. You can, of course, also use the decorations and candy from the gingerbread house kit as well. Here’s what we decided to use:

Rosemary: Most fresh herbs would work, but rosemary really felt like real greenery for our gingerbread house. We used a stalk to make a wreath and also like the roofline like garland. This served more than one purpose as it looked so beautiful but also hid the border between the shingles and the edge of the roof.

Wafer cookies: These were the perfect little shutters for our gingerbread house – plus a nice snack while we were creating our house!

Yogurt-covered berries: A bulk-section find that made the doorway feel festive. Any soft-toned candy would work beautifully here.

We considered adding pomegranate seeds as berries on the wreath or a small snowman made of white chocolate truffles, but even with just a handful of details, the house felt timeless and inviting. Guests commented on it all season long.

If you’ve always loved the idea of making a gingerbread house but felt intimidated, we hope this encourages you to join in. It’s a small tradition, but one that brings everyone together and fills the holidays with so much joy.

Merry Christmas