At Miramont Castle, it’s a pickle in a Christmas tree, not a partridge in a pear tree.

The 130-year-old castle is all gussied up for the holidays, and that includes the Victorian tradition of hiding a pickle in a tree for the kids.

“And whichever child found it would get a special present,” said castle director Peggie Yager. “The bad thing is it’s green.”

While there won’t be any special gifts for castle patrons who locate said cucumber, they will have the pleasure of wandering through an almost fully decorated castle.

Victorian Christmas Tours will take place Friday through Sunday. Decorations will be up through mid-January.

“It’s the prettiest time to come to the castle,” Yager said.

Part of the proceeds from the tours will go toward providing about 50 kids in the Pikes Peak region with clothes, shoes and toys through Mercy at Miramont, named after the Sisters of Mercy, who once owned the castle. The kids and their families are invited to the castle for a traditional Christmas dinner, where they receive their gifts.

French Roman Catholic priest Father Jean Baptiste Francolon built the castle in 1895 for himself and his mother, the daughter of a French count. When they arrived in 1892, he took over duties at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Catholic parish just down the street from where Miramont would soon be built.

Construction took three years and probably employed most of Manitou, says Yager, what with quarrying all of the building’s stone. It features nine architecture styles fancied by the priest, including shingle-style Queen Anne, English Tudor, Flemish stepped gables, domestic Elizabethan, Venetian ogee, Byzantine and Moorish. The estate has more than 40 rooms, including eight-sided rooms, a 16-sided room, and a solarium.

The mother and son didn’t stay long in their adopted town, leaving in 1900. Nobody knows for sure why they arrived or why they left.

Post-priest, the castle went through a few owners: Sisters of Mercy used it as a tuberculosis sanitarium before private owners bought the building and converted it into apartments. Upkeep was tough, however, for the old castle, and it fell into disrepair and stood vacant until 1975, when the Manitou Springs Historical Society came to the rescue. The organization bought the building and opened it to the public the following year. In 1977, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

During the self-guided holiday tours, visitors will receive a sheet with a brief history of the building and a guide to each room. Tours typically take about 45 minutes to an hour, and include hot wassail and homemade cookies on the third floor.

More than 10 artificial trees decorate the castle, and each room has its own theme for Christmas, such as Father Francolon’s room, done in burgundy and gold, and the parlor, done in Victorian pink.

Keep an eye out for the feather tree made of goose feathers in the guest bedroom. Feather trees were popular around the turn of the century and into the 1920s.

“They came up with the feather tree when they cut down so many trees in Germany that there weren’t a lot left,” Yager said. “They came up with the feather tree to take the pressure off real trees. They strip the feathers off the quill and wrap them around a wire frame. They’re short and stubby-looking. They’re very expensive.”

If you go

What: Victorian Christmas Tours at Miramont Castle

When: Tours from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday through Sunday, castle closes at 4:30 p.m.

Where: Miramont Castle, 9 Capitol Hill Ave., Manitou Springs

Price: $17, $15 60 and older, $12 12 and younger; 719-685-1011, miramontcastle.org