A Day at Perrygrove

I went with Julia, Twins, Johanna, Luke, Ruby and Eric, to Perrygrove Railway for a VIP treatment visit to see Santa aka Father Christmas, St Nicholas etc. It's at Millwall, near Coleford, Forest of Dean.
It was really good, and well worth the cost  to see the childrens eyes light up and excited jumping up and down.
It started with a free drink, tea/coffee for the bigger people, soft drink for the children. We then boarded the train (Spirit of Adventure) and did the twisting, turning, rail track past lots of large animal statues with lights inside, very impressive (elephants, giraffes, panda bears, monkeys, zebra, and lots of seasonal displays). Also, because we had VIP tickets we had carriages to ourselves with cakes and scones, which were just wondeful.
We stopped at the end for the engine to change ends and then the journey was repeated in reverse, but just as thrilling.
Back at the station we disembarked were soon in a room, same large room where Luke and Johanna were married (blip of them but there is also a link to facebook album).
We were in the room on our own, apart from Fran, of Perrygrove, who was the host. The children did a page each of glue, pasting and glitter, and then Fran gave us a talk about what was going to happen. We were all wearing 'Perrygrove Magic Badges' which we had to rub and shout  "1  2  3  FATHER CHRISTMAS"
Didn't work the first two time but then Father Christmas appeared from the chimney breast no less, yes, a real Santa Claus entrance and not a trace of soot anywhere. That's the magic of Santa I suppose.
Anyway, he was really good I commented, as he should be Julia reminded me, he IS Father Christmas.
He spent some time with us while Fran read from a book about the history of Perrygrove, the 4 engines they have, and then Santa disappeared again up the chimney.
The children were then led over to where he had been sitting and there were presents there with the 4 childrens names on them. They were quite thrilled, apart from Isabella who, when asked what she wanted for Christmas, said "A YOYO". Julia explained to her that this present was special from Santa and she might get the YOYO on Christmas Day (Fingers crossed).
It was as much fun for us adults as for the children but I did love seeing the girls jump for joy when Santa appeared, they weren't shy of him at all. Neither was Ruby but she didn't say much to him. Ruby is very familiar with the people at Perrygrove, as Luke volunteers there doing all sorts including train driving, so maybe she caught a glimpse of a familiar face behind the beard HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA