A magical weekend at Santa’s treehouse
Takes her daughters to meet Father Christmas at Ribby Hall’s Winter Wonderland
‘WHERE does Santa live?” asked my little girl when she found out we were off to visit the old man in red. “Well, he works near Wrea Green, about 45 minutes from Manchester at this time of year,” probably wasn’t the reply she was expecting, but she seemed satisfied with an answer which meant she’d get to watch at least half of her favourite Disney DVD – Sleeping Beauty this week – en-route.
The grotto was in a treehouse – a very large treehouse as it happens – at Ribby Hall Holiday Village, a wonderful complex for a weekend of escapism in the run up to Christmas.
Our daughters – the one-year-old Charlotte wasn’t going to miss out on anything her big sister Isobel was getting excited about – were led by an elf up the stairs to the treehouse, decked in thousands of fairy lights.
After being encouraged to knock on the door, a second elf appeared to usher the family in to meet the big man himself.
As any parent will tell you, this is the moment where you find out whether a visit to Santa was an inspired moment they’ll treasure for ever or the second a life-long phobia about large, bearded men kicks in.
Thanks to the gentle manner of Santa, for our children it was most certainly the former. A few minutes of pleasant chit chat and a surprisingly long Christmas list later, we were leaving the treehouse, clutching two new elf teddy bears in search of dinner as the sun set.
Ribby Hall is quite a remarkable spot. Just minutes off the M55 on the way to Blackpool, it’s a place where precious memories are made quickly, especially this time of year in their Winter Wonderland.
The complex is a mixture of holiday cottages, lodges and a large adults-only hotel called the Spa.
The various homes are spread across a site, which has plenty of open space, and is wrapped by a woodland trail.
The sign of a good holiday complex is surely one where a weekend passes without thinking about leaving the site, and if that’s the measure we’re looking at, then Ribby Hall passes with flying colours.
Although accommodation is largely self-catering, we did remarkably little of that – although a 6am dawn chorus from the children is best handled with a quick move to breakfast around the dining table – due to the range of cafes and restaurants on site.
The bar and grill is a large dining and drinking area which is the focal point of the evening entertainment with a brilliant burger menu to boot.
The Tapas restaurant, which, as the name suggests, does a mean line in Spanish food but with a flavour of Italian thrown in as well – also went down well with the children.
But I suspect the meal our girls will remember will be the Frozen tea party.
Not too many afternoon teas come with colouring pencils and paper, followed by a decorateyour-own biscuit before a chance to meet and greet Elsa and Anna and join them for some dancing.
Oh, and the cakes and sandwiches served were a big hit too – and just the right calorie fix to compensate for a very active time in the outdoor adventure playgrounds, riding bikes around the complex and hours in the very child-friendly swimming pool.
It even has a dedicated toddler pool complete with mini slide, watering cans and rubber ducks – everything to keep our water baby happy while her sister enjoyed the ‘big’ slides.
With each year that goes by, Christmas seems to start earlier for children, and busier too.
But as sure as Santa will be dropping by on December 25, we’ll be making our way back to Ribby Hall again soon.