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In search of Santa in Devon

6th December 2015

Categories: Visitor News

It’s the first full-on Christmassy weekend in December – and families have been seeking (and finding!) Santa in top attractions across Devon. And as your very own Visit Devon blogger, I took my little ones to find the jolly man himself this weekend, and joined in with Devon’s Top Attraction’s 48 hour live #DevonSantaSearch happening across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Over December 5 & 6, bloggers Tara Povey and Gina Caro joined me in visiting as many of Devon’s top visitor attractions as we could ‘in search of Santa and the Devon Christmas spirit’, and enjoyed some fabulous Christmas magic with our families, including Sail with Santa, Santa by Steam train, Santa in the Caves, ice skating and tobogganing, as well as some good old traditional encounters.

I was lucky enough to take my tribe of Rufus (nearly 4), Bea (7 months) and Phil (41) to The BIG Sheep near Bideford and Quince Honey Farm in South Molton – and enjoyed a fabulous start to the festive season.

Living nearby, we’ve long been big fans of The BIG Sheep – but this time our visit had bells on, of course. Both kids were totally taken with the light show in Woolly’s Winter Wonderland – Rufus said it looked ‘magical’, whilst little Bea was transfixed. Phil attempted (!) the snowboard simulator, I loved my spin on the ‘ice’ rink, and the tobogganing was great fun – but the best was yet to come. Santa’s grotto is actually in a glittering house set within the light show – which meant that even Rufus (who to this point has always refused to see Santa) was tempted in. Watching his face as he then chatted in awe with the very lovely and gentle (and non-scary!) Santa, and seeing Bea’s first ever Santa encounter, will certainly be one of my treasured memories from Christmas 2015 – and both kids absolutely loved their fantastic pressies. After a visit to The BIG Sheep’s Christmas Farmers’ Market and Craft Fair (one of the absolute best in North Devon – we go every year), a lovely lunch and a run around the soft play, we were off to Quince Honey Farm in South Molton on the next leg of our #DevonSantaSearch
The BIG Sheep’s Woolly’s Winter Wonderland and Christmas markets will be on every weekend up to Christmas, plus some weekdays from December 19 – see here for details

At Quince Honey Farm we were set for another first – this time a ride on a donkey, which would take us to see Santa. And what a proud parent moment! Bea was a little small to go on (I don’t think they make riding hats in size 6-12 months), but Rufus beamed as his red-decked donkey carried him to the pretty grotto. After a lovely chat with a friendly elf (Rufus confirmed that he had been a good boy, and would go to sleep on Christmas Eve), our #DevonSantaSearch led us to another smiley Santa. By now of course Rufus was an old hand – and chatted away like an old friend, then posed for photos with his lovely gift. Off to the soft play then, though Rufus spent as much time with his sticker book as running round. This was my first visit to Quince Honey Farm – and I’ll certainly be back, as I managed to get a quick peek at the fascinating honey and bee exhibition which clearly deserved more time.
Quince Honey Farm’s Christmas festivities are on December 5-6 – see here for details

Find your own festive spirit in Devon this December
There’s lots more festive fun to be had across Devon this December. Take a look at www.lotstodo.co.uk to find out what’s happening near you.