The children were very excited as they knew that they are going to meet Santa and get a lot of presents from him. This was our third time going to Chasewater Railway Santa Special with friends. I am always excited to show my children about train heritage. Mr K loves train and loves to build his wooden train track all around his room.
Santa Special is always very busy during this time and luckily, we had pre-booked our tickets a while ago. After we met our friends there, we all went inside the carriage to be seated. All the children were not impressed with the old dank smell in the carriage but I thought this provided quite an authentic feel! The whole train trip was about 20 minutes, up the track and then back down. We were able go out the carriage to watch them swap the engine over from the front of the train to back of the train before hopping back inside to continue back to the start.
After we arrived back, we all went inside the Heritage Centre queuing to meet Santa in his Grotto. While queuing, there was a working model train set sponsored by Coca Cola. All the children were fascinated by the trains and it kept them quiet while we queued.
The children were all excited when we went inside to chat with Santa. Before each one left, Santa gave each of them a lovely Chasewater Railway mug. After that, we went to collect more presents from the counter. They gave out the presents according to the children’s age and sex. I think this is a fabulous idea as the presents will be more appropriate.
Then we all had a drink and a mince pie each while children had a piece of chocolate and squash. Inside this Heritage Centre, right at the end, was their museum. It was quite small but it is filled with lot of different badges, plates, bricks and all sorts of history inside there. Our children were too young to understand it but it is great for any trains lover to learn about Heritage. After that fantastic visit, we all went to have a carvery at the local Toby Carvery which topped off a great family day out!