Most of us hear about Lapland in Finland being Santa Claus' village but a few months ago, we found out there is a closer one to us - about 1h 15min drive away - tucked away in a forest in Ascot, Berkshire. Considering the difficult year we have been through, and are still going through, I suggested to K that we bring the kids there for a day out. Bring out the kids in us too.
There were a lot of emotions involved on the days leading up to the visit to UKLapland. Firstly we had another nationwide lockdown for a month, which ended on 2 Dec, and our trip was meant for 7 Dec. There were rumours about it being extended. Thankfully the lockdown did end on 2 Dec, and they then classified London as Tier 2 which thankfully was the same as Berkshire, which finally meant we could go ahead. There were so many customers who were in Tier 3 who had to seek refunds. And our friends who were meant to go at the end of November couldn't do so since we were on a lockdown. They postponed it to 30 Dec, but guess what, now London AND Berkshire are both Tier 3, and so the whole UKLapland is now currently closed! It's all madness here with ever changing news, sometimes I find that I can't keep up anymore.
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| One of the elves' huts |
Anyway back to our trip. We psyched Izzy up the days leading up to the visit and said we were going to meet Santa Claus. Based on her past track record, she didn't like Santa very much lol, and so we were hoping that there won't be any tears this year.
It was a non-stop morning for me, as I planned our route and noted to K that we had to leave by 12pm latest, as we were meant to arrive at 130pm for our 2pm start. So the whole morning I was busy pottering around - packing our stuff for our day trip, and cooking an early lunch and dinner too, for us when we get back that evening. So much cooking! Finally when we left at 1210pm, I was exhausted. Still excited nonetheless!
Bearing in mind this whole immersive experience was in a forest, the whole team did an excellent job with all the set up and the thousands of snow covered pine trees. It was magical. That afternoon in Ascot was 2 deg C, and a very foggy drive into the forest. I guess the fog added to the mystery and gave it an extra magical touch!
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We were assigned to team Husky, hence the mask!
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We had a welcome from a team of elves who then ushered us to a few activities. Not before we were handed our masks of course, and constant reminders of social distancing. I was impressed by how they staggered our timings to meet Santa so that there is limited wait time, and we were not in any crowds.
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| The elves introducing us to their world and what was to come |
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| In the toy workshop |
The elves led the kids in some Christmas songs, we all helped Santa to make toys in the toy workshop, and helped Mrs Claus to decorate some gingerbread cookies. After about an hour of guided activities, we had about 1.5h of free and easy time in the village which was built around a big open air ice rink. It reminded me of a typical Christmas market which I miss so much.
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| In Mrs Claus' kitchen |
Izzy saw the kids zooming past on the ice rink and pestered K to let her try it. There were kids clip-on skates and they could hold on to a penguin and supposedly glide around happily on the rink. There were also elves skating around to make sure everyone is safe and happy. Guess what, Izzy had a complete meltdown on the rink. She literally froze in fear and K who is not a great skater was holding her hand but she.would.not.move and they were both stuck on the complete end of the rink, away from Gabriel and me. We were waiting for them to skate back and the moment I heard Izzy's screams I knew it wasn't good. Finally we had to lift her over the rail into my arms and boy did she cry. I guess she might be too young to try it. She kept saying she didn't want to fall. And by that time she was overtired I guess, with all the walking and the mental stimulation. Unfortunately we didn't have a double buggy, and Gabriel was sleeping angelically, so poor K had to carry Izzy.
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| Examining her skates |
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| A very glum face |
Luckily we managed to snap her out of it after a while, and she returned to her happy self and we even managed a few family photos by the huge tree in the centre of the village. By then Gabriel was up too and so everything was fine once again, thank God.
We saw some reindeer on the way to see Santa, and some photo opportunities too. Finally we found ourselves waiting to enter the room where the big man was. See, prior to the visit, mummy had to fill in a form to let Santa know of what relevant questions to ask Izzy. So I put down some of her likes, which included ballet of course, and that she's recently started baking with mummy. And that's exactly what Santa asked her. And lo and behold, no tears this year! She sat in front of Santa and even answered his questions, and she said yes she baked a chocolate cake with mummy. Well done Izzy! Finally we could take off our masks for a family photo with Santa, with social distancing in place. There was a transparent screen between us and Santa but you couldn't tell from the photo. As a parting gift, Santa gave Izzy a toy husky and she is in love with it. We ended at the toy emporium, where very cleverly, the shop sold every accessory which all the toy huskies need. We bought her a little doggie outfit and she's now named her husky, Wish. (Wish is the name of one of the elves).
We did spend some time at the shop and by that time it was 6.30pm, to which we had to hurry and leave because it would be 8pm by the time we got home. Not surprisingly Izzy fell asleep very quickly in the car, and Gabriel fussed a little but stayed awake till we got home.
Overall a very magical day, and we were thankful we managed to experience it.
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| Showing Gabriel her new toy |
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| All happy smiles again |
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