On Monday, Autumn, Dave and I went to meet Farmer Christmas at Broadditch Farm. Yes, that’s right. Not “Father Christmas”, FARMER Christmas! I’ve been to Broadditch in Southfleet, Kent (near Gravesend) before for their Halloween and Easter events. They’ve been fantastic and there is also a wonderful farm shop I enjoy visiting. However, I’d never taken part in any of their Christmas activities before.

The best Santa’s Grottos often sell out weeks or even months in advance, so I quickly booked us in at the beginning of November. Funnily enough, it was the first Santa’s grotto I booked into, but the last one we’ll actually visit before Christmas! We saw Santa at a local preloved sale at the beginning of last month and again at Bluestone the following week.

Please excuse the quality of the photos in this post. It was dark and I only had my phone’s camera with me!

Elfministrator

You’re asked to arrive 10 minutes before your time slot. This allows you to check in with the ‘elfministrator’. It’s quite cramped in the elfministrator’s hut, although at the end of it there are colouring things for children. We couldn’t even get anywhere near though! Autumn was mesmerised by the pretty artificial trees though.

Tractor ride

When the elves come to collect you from the elfministrator’s hut, you walk through a Christmassy archway where the tractor and trailer await.

The lovely, friendly elves got us to make some magic noises to get the magic tractor going! Once we were on the move, we started singing Christmas carols which was great. It was quite a bumpy ride, as you’d expect! I haven’t been offroading in ages and it was lovely to feel like sitting in the back of a Defender again. Land Rover enthusiasm aside, it was definitely a really fun experience for the children!

Farmer Christmas’ Grotto

Arrival

After the short ride, we got off of the tractor. We were led through magical trees and lights to where Santa’s hut was.

The elves giggled because he was sleeping, so we had to wake him up, of course! My little Autumn was too young to know what was going on really, but all the older children made lots of noise! He came to greet us and invite us in.

Inside

Once we were inside and children were seated on the benches, Farmer Christmas told us all a story and some jokes. He had such a hearty, wonderful laugh and was brilliant with the children. He’s met a lot of celebrities, as there were photos of him with famous figures such as David Beckham on the wall!

It was a lovely atmosphere, although I was glad that I didn’t have a migraine as there were lots of fairy lights on the ceiling! Once the story and jokes were over, the children went over to get their presents. Autumn got to sit on Farmer Christmas’ chair briefly, before we went outside and had a photo taken with him.

Autumn didn’t want to be held for the photo, but when she was stood up, she complained because she’d already been lifted!

Heading back

The mood was brilliant on board the tractor on the way back and we sang more Christmas songs. It really was a lovely festive experience.

Autumn got a wooden toy that has coloured, numbered sticks, with corresponding coloured rings to stack on them. It’s a lovely toy that will be suitable for her for a good few years! Of course, she doesn’t really appreciate numbers at the moment, but she enjoys taking the hoops off and playing with them! It’s a toy she can grow into and play with in different ways as time progresses.

Reflection

I’d definitely go back, as it was a lovely experience and judging from Autumn’s present, the gifts are of a good quality too. We just had one question…why was Santa’s beard grey?

My friend Nikki has a good suggestion:

I suspect he left his regular beard at home and as an emergency tipped the contents of a @Dyson hoover on his face #ReindeerReady

— 🍒 🎮 Nikki 🎮 🍒🔜 KupoCon FFXV Tour (@GlamandGeeky) December 20, 2017

Why do you think Santa has a grey beard? Have you visited any good Santa’s Grottos? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Disclosure: This is not written in collaboration with Broadditch Farm in any way whatsoever. All views and opinions, as always, are honest and my own.