Wroxham Barns Christmas Experience
We were very kindly gifted an amazing Christmas experience at the wonderful Wroxham barns in Norfolk.
We are already huge fans of this farm, it is by far one of the cheapest days out in the area. Entry into the childrens farm includes a small soft play area and access to all the farm animals. They have a timetable of events each day including animal meet and greets, and feeding times. They also have an area of rides for children for a small extra cost. In the summer months I only spend £10 on the extra rides and the children have a blast!
Now lets talk about the Christmas experience, I did not realise this was going to be so long, it was around 2 hours from start to finish, which is pretty amazing as a usual Santa visit can sometimes feel rushed.
We were first greeted by some very excitable elves, we were given access to elf school where we learned how to peep in windows, hold piles of presents and we learnt the elfabet S.A.N.T.A. The children were all involved, even my 2 year old was happily watching and joining in. The elves made sure to get the parents joining in and laughing along which was really nice as we felt part of the experience too.
After elf school Santa came in and spent time with all the children, we did craft activities and Santa spent so much time each child, talking to each of them and helping with their activities. This for me was the best part as a Santa trip is usually only a few moments with Santa, but with this experience the children felt like they could really spend time with the big man himself, and loved having him joining in and helping them.
They then all received presents, the Elves read each childs name, age, and a fact about each child (the elves may have had help from us mummy and daddies for this part beforehand) the children were all very surprised when their name and facts were read out, it was so personal and made the experience feel so real. The presents were great quality, my big girls ages 8 and 6 received unicorn night lights, and my little boy age 2 received a farm tractor set.
We were then led out to a VIP section of the farm, in here we discovered real reindeer belonging to Santa himself, and beautiful donkeys.
I always love to be honest and here are my mistakes I made on the day, so you don’t have to make them too.
Do not arrive too early, 9am to be exact. our time slot for Santa was not until around 1pm, with the farm being quite small we had already been around the whole farm twice by 11am. leaving us wondering around for quite a while. It was winter so the area with rides was closed off, there are a few shops and a cafe to walk around, however with a small child that enjoys grabbing everything in site I decided most of the pretty shops were also off limits for us. We were freezing cold by time our time slot came around. I would recommend arriving around 1 hour before your time slot, that will give you a chance to have a look around before seeing Santa. Then once your experience has finished you can explore the rest of the farm at your own pace before making your way home.
Our next mistake was using the on site Cafe for lunch, The cafe is beautiful inside, with pretty wallpaper and Christmas garlands hanging above our heads. However with a family of 5 all starving hungry we ended up spending a small fortune on food, with childrens lunchboxes costing around £4 each. by all means go for a hot drink and a mince pie, but I would suggest a packed lunch to keep costs down, especially if your children are always hungry like mine are.
Would we visit for the Santa experience again? Yes! We had an amazing day out.
It really is worth the money, so much time is spent with the children, the experience is extremely personal. plus you have access to explore the whole farm and soft play too.
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