Snowy Cottage Jigsaw Puzzle

Snowy Cottage at every size

Par is the time your score is measured against at that size. The rest is measured from the picture itself: how many pieces have a near-twin by colour once it is cut.

What the picture shows

The front of a stone cottage in an English village after snow. A red front door stands left of centre under a snowy wooden porch, with a holly wreath and a red bow. A lantern glows beside it, and two potted firs strung with lights flank the step. Snowy ivy climbs the walls round three windows, one lit with a candle on the sill. Holly with red berries runs down the left edge above a weathered bench under snow. A black bicycle with a wicker basket leans on the wall right of the door. On the right a wooden gate opens in a stone wall, and footprints cross the snow from the gate to the doorstep. Beyond lie snowy roofs and a church tower.

Solving Snowy Cottage

Snow on the ivy, the bench and the path is all one white, so about 6 pieces in 10 have a near-twin at 50 pieces. The red door, the lantern, the bicycle and the gate stay easy at every size. By 1000 pieces nearly every piece has a near-twin, and about 1 in 7 is plain, mostly the trampled path and the grey sky.

Start with the red door and its wreath, then the lantern and the two lit firs. Place the windows next, then the bicycle, the garden gate and the bench. Build the village and the church tower at the top right. Sort the snowy ivy by the window it frames. Fill the path last, following the footprints from the gate to the step.

Snowy Cottage is on the easier side of the Christmas set at 50 pieces, fifth of sixteen, and in its harder half from 100 up. At 1000 pieces it ties with Reindeer Farm and Christmas Tree Farm, behind only Christmas Eve and Winter Cabin.

More christmas jigsaw puzzles

• Christmas EveA snowy high street at night with Christmas lights, wreaths and shoppers.
• Christmas MarketWooden Christmas market stalls and a carousel in a square of half-timbered houses at dusk.
• Gingerbread HouseA gingerbread house iced and covered in gumdrops on a floury kitchen table at Christmas.
• Tree OrnamentsGlass baubles, wooden toys and felt ornaments hung close on a real Christmas tree.
• Christmas CookiesIced Christmas cookies in stars, trees, bells and snowmen on a baking tray and a cooling rack.
• Toy Shop WindowAn old toy shop window at Christmas, with a train, teddy bears, a dolls' house and toy soldiers.
• Town Ice RinkSkaters lacing boots and circling a lit Christmas tree on an outdoor rink in an old town square.
• Reindeer FarmFour reindeer eating hay from a wooden trough by a red barn on a snowy farm.
• Cardinal in the HollyA red cardinal perched in a snowy holly bush, with a wooden bird feeder behind.
• Winter CabinA red Swedish cabin with white window frames among snowy pines, with a snowmobile and a sled outside.
• Christmas DinnerA Christmas dinner table with a carved turkey, crackers, candles and paper crowns.
• Snowman in the GardenA lopsided snowman in a striped scarf and bobble hat in a back garden after snow.
• Christmas Tree FarmA family pulling a cut Christmas tree on a cart past rows of firs on a snowy farm.
• Presents Under the TreeWrapped presents, a sleeping cat and a toy train under the Christmas tree by the fire.
• Nutcracker MantelPainted wooden nutcrackers, candles and a clock on a Christmas mantelpiece above knitted stockings.