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Wooden Nativity Figures: Wise Men & Camel | 4 Pieces, UK Made
£29.99
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Handcrafted in
North Yorkshire
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BYOB-WiseMen
Made To Order
Three wise men and the camel that carried them, each crown shaped a little differently so children can tell them apart and name them for themselves.
They are the last people to arrive at the stable, so add them on Christmas day. Or, if your tradition celebrates Epiphany, save them until the 6th of January.
Four pieces in spalted beech, handcrafted in North Yorkshire.
See below for individual piece dimensions
An invitation to play
Three Magi, one camel and a very long walk
Most nativity sets are just for looking at. This one is for playing with as well.
The pieces are chunky, smooth and heavy enough to feel like something. A three-year-old can carry Mary across the room in one fist. There are no thin arms to snap off, no separate accessories to vanish under the sofa, and nothing that needs putting back out of reach once the grown-ups have admired it.
That changes what the set is for. A nativity kept safe on the mantelpiece is something children learn to be careful around. A nativity they are handed becomes theirs, walked up to the stable, rearranged, argued over, told and retold in their own words long before they can follow the story in a reading.
Shaped for the imagination
Just enough detail to know who everyone is
A fold in a robe. The suggestion of a face turned toward the manger. Every piece carries enough to tell you who it is and no more, and the restraint is deliberate.
Give a child a Joseph whose expression is already decided and the story is finished before they have picked him up. Give them one who could be worried, or relieved, or quietly proud, and they get to decide, differently every time they play.
Too much detail and a figure becomes something to look at rather than something to think with. Too little and there is nothing to hang a story on. Somewhere in between is where the play happens, and that is the gap we are carving for.
Wood with a story of its own
Two woods, and why
Spalted beech, for the figures
Spalted beech is prized for its natural figuring and the dark marbled lines a natural fungal process draws through the timber as it season.
Ours comes from wind-felled and end-of-life trees here in North Yorkshire.The grain and pattern runs differently through every plank we use so each piece is totally unique. That means the set you unwrap this Christmas will be unlike any other set we will ever make.
Olive wood, for the stable and baby Jesus
The stable, its roof and the manger are shaped from Mediterranean olive wood rather than spalted beech. Olive trees are native to the Holy Land, and the young Jesus would very likely have worked with their wood as a carpenter. There are still olive trees alive today that were growing at the time of his birth.
That same endurance is written into the woodgrain. Olive wood grows slowly, under stress, in dry and rocky ground, and what it gives back is some of the most dramatically figured timber you can find. Swirling patterns of pale gold and rich brown, proof that beauty can be born out of hardship.
Hand-sanded and oiled, it takes on a smooth, almost silken feel under your fingers, dense and cool to the touch in a way few other woods can match. A fitting choice for the stable where a servant king was born.
Wood so beautiful it needs no help from paint, lacquer or gilding.
Meet the pieces
What's in the box
4 pieces, each one shaped, sanded and oiled by hand in our North Yorkshire workshop.
Wise Man 1
Spalted beech
50mm × 100mm
Wise Man 2
Spalted beech
50mm × 100mm
Wise Man 3
Spalted beech
50mm × 100mm
Camel
Spalted beech
134mm × 118mm
Colours and grain patterns vary from set to set. All dimensions are maximum size. All pieces are 18mm thick, which is what gives the buildings their stability once stacked.
Crafted with love and respect
Every piece is shaped and finished by hand in our own Yorkshire workshop. No mass production, no shipping containers, no gaudy paint jobs. Just slow, deliberate craft, a love of wood, and respect for the story.
Step one
Cut with precision
Positioned to make the most of the wood grain.
Step two
Sanded by hand
Every face and every edge, until there is nothing left to catch a small hand.
Step three
Oiled for beauty
A non-toxic finish that brings out the figure in the wood. No paint, no lacquer.
You do not have to choose between a nativity set your children can play with and one the looks great on your mantelpiece. Ours is both.
Seven sets, made to be collected
Build Your Own Bethlehem
Start with the Foundation Set - the stable, the manger,the Holy Family and the donkey. It works on its own, but it can also be the focal point of your steadily-growing Bethlehem. Buy it all at once or add a set each year - the choice is yours.
They're made by the same hands, in the same workshop, from the same wood, so everything you add sits alongside what you already own as though it always belonged there.
Magnus
1 pieces
£1.99
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Complete Nativity
36 pieces
£212.44
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Soldiers, Horse & Innkeeper
4 pieces
£29.99
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Joseph's Workshop
4 pieces
£29.99
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Mary's House
4 pieces
£29.99
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Angel, Shepherds & Sheep
5 pieces
£29.99
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Foundation Set
7 pieces
£59.99
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Herod's Palace
8 pieces
£39.99
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Something to build your story-telling around
Letters from Gaius
Twenty-five letters from a Roman centurion to his son, weaving together the many different strands of the Christmas story. One day at a time through Advent.
Read a letter at bedtime, then act it out with the figures. That is when a nativity set stops being an ornament and becomes part of your family's advent ritual.
Written for ages 7 to grandparent.
From £39.99
See Letters from GaiusFAQ
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Yes. The pieces are solid, 18mm thick, sanded smooth with rounded edges and finished with a non-toxic oil. There are no small parts to come loose, no glued joints and no coatings to chew off. As with any wooden toy, we would not leave a child under three unsupervised with the smaller pieces.
The only piece we do not recommend for very small children is the optional Magnus the magnificent figure. -
Because a person made it. Each piece is shaped, sanded and oiled by hand in our own Yorkshire workshop from timber we selected, rather than stamped out by the thousand and shipped in from overseas. You are buying one of a kind rather than one of fifty thousand, and something that will still be in the family when the child playing with it has children of their own.
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Yes. Every set is made by the same hands, in the same workshop, from the same spalted beech and olive wood. Grain and colour vary from piece to piece by nature – that is what makes each set unique – but the style, thickness and scale are identical across the whole range.
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No. There is nothing to assemble. The pieces are blocks: they stack and sit against each other, with no joints, no fixings and no instructions to lose. Every piece is a solid 18mm thick, in line with most wooden block sets, and that thickness is what gives the buildings their stability once they are stacked. Build it, knock it down, build it again.
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The beech is Yorkshire, from wind-felled and end-of-life trees near the workshop. The olive wood is Mediterranean, the same species that has grown across the Holy Land for thousands of years.
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Each set is made to order with a 7-day turnaround, then despatched on a tracked service. Order by 6th December and we guarantee it will be with you for Christmas. We keep shipping until 18 December, but after the 6th we cannot promise it arrives in time.
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You can. The Complete Nativity brings all seven sets together at a saving compared to buying them separately.
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We don't offer a gift wrapping service at the moment.
Every set arrives in a beautiful, recyclable kraft card box, suitable for giving as it is. -
Dust it, play with it, and wipe it with a barely damp cloth if it needs it. Avoid soaking, dishwashers and radiators. A drop of food-safe oil every few years will bring the grain and figuring back to life.
About this set
