A team of pastry chefs at the Fairmont Southampton has created a massive model of the hotel from gingerbread to celebrate Christmas.

Now their stunning creation — which features a scale model of the hotel and its other attractions like the golf course — has taken pride of place in the lobby in the run-up to Christmas.

The brainchild of Eric Fernandez, the hotel’s executive pastry chef, the model, which weighs in at 440 pounds, took a team of seven more than 350 hours to build.

They used 100 pounds of icing sugar, 1,300 egg whites and 50 pounds of cookie dough, along with gingerbread, wood, gum paste and food colouring.

Mr Fernandez said: “It was hard work and complicated to do — and what you need is the time to do it. It’s difficult to get the time to do it. The entire resort is six pieces put together.”

Mr Fernandez said hotel guests were taken aback by the scale and detail of the team’s creation — and that it was particularly popular with children.

He added: “The reaction has been pretty positive — I don’t go to the lobby very often because I’m in the kitchen and this time of the year we are very busy.

“But, from other staff and management, they’ve said guests are very surprised by the size and complexity of it.”

Children were also delighted to spot one of the hotel’s Elves on the Shelf, which will be moving around the hotel over the festive season, inside one of the gingerbread buildings.

The gingerbread resort features a miniature version of the hotel, as well as the Waterlot Inn, Turtle Hill Golf Club and a pink sugar-coated beach at the Ocean Club.

Mr Fernandez said: “It’s my first year here and I was looking at what they did in the past and came up with idea of doing the entire resort, with all the restaurants and the golf course.”

He worked with the hotel’s kitchen artist Ernie Ogelsco, who designed the piece.

Mr Fernandez said: “He was the one who sat down and designed it, like an architect, and made it to scale. We, the pastry chefs, then did the work.”

He added: “Afterwards, we thought about keeping it, but it’s so big and we might want to do something different next year.

“It’s edible, but I wouldn’t recommend eating it — it will have dried out and it will have been sitting there for more than a month.”

The hotel’s Christmas contribution also includes 20 lavishly decorated “Trees of Hope”, all sponsored by island businesses and which raised more than $20,000 to support the work of the Family Centre, which works to protect families.

In addition, pink Christmas lights have been installed at the hotel’s main entrance, with twinkling lights and Christmas wreaths at the grand staircase.

The hotel is also featuring a number of Christmas specials, including a $179 Bermuda residents’ room rate, exclusive of tax and gratuities and based on availability.

A “12 days of Christmas” event, which starts on December 23, will feature a range of activities, from cookie-making and children’s activities in Santa’s Workshop to wine tasting and gingerbread house competitions, as well as special holiday menus.