2 days Ago
A new magical, interactive Santa grotto experience will open its doors to families in Monmouthshire this . The owners of The Willows Garden Centre in Usk have created two festive Christmas attractions - an enchanting Santa experience with a journey through Gingerbread-Land and a snow-themed play area. Highlights of the attractions include interactive games, a snow play area, an enchanted forest, a train carriage that magically transports visitors to Gingerbread Land, decorating a Christmas mug, writing a letter to Santa before meeting him in his grotto.
Visitors will be enchanted by the festive decorations, which include thousands of lights, Christmas trees and props ranging from a sleigh and reindeers to animated polar bears. There are also snowmen and a Gingerbread Factory, as well as a toy shop where they choose their gift after meeting Santa. Families begin their 45-minute interactive experience by writing their letter to Santa before being magically transported aboard The Willows Express Train to the heart of Gingerbread-Land.
Here, children play games in the Gingerbread Factory before decorating their own Christmas mug in the Gingerbread House. After making their way through the Enchanted Forest they sit down to make reindeer food that they take home to leave out for Santa’s sleigh team on Christmas Eve. The last stop of the experience is meeting Santa in his Grotto, where families are free to take photo’s with Santa at no extra cost, before each child chooses a gift from the Toy Shop.
The owners of the Baron Street-based garden centre, Russell and Anna Walker, together with Mr Walker’s mum Lorna Walker, have spent months creating the Christmas experience. “We’ve never done anything like this before. We wanted to create a special experience that children will remember,” said Mr Walker, who has run the garden centre for 16 years, which is also home to pottery and bear cabins and a soft play centre.
He said they started planning the attractions in January and have been working around the clock to create the experience in time for this weekend’s launch. He said: “We’ve had a lot of interest already with bookings from school parties and families. “Our snow ‘soft play’ area features falling artificial snow that is used by film and TV companies and is believed to be the only attraction to feature it this Christmas.
” The 45-minute experience costs £15 per child, which includes a gift from the toy shop. Adult entry is £5 each. The snow play area is a separate attraction and includes seating for parents, a sleigh for photo opportunities and an inflatable penguin knock-out game.
Entry to the snow play area is £5 per child for half an hour. There is a cafe on-site. The interactive Santa Experience is open between November 23 up until and including Christmas Eve.
The Snow Play area will stay open until January 10, 2025. To book go to www.willowsgardencentre.
co.uk/christmas.
