If you’ve visited our travel blog recently, you may have read about the Kakslauttanen resort in Finland. Their Christmas offering provides children with the opportunity to visit Santa’s home and the impressive Celebration House – said to be the largest log building in the country. The resort looks spectacular, I imagine myself there on a regular basis and five year old POD would undoubtedly be off the scale with excitement. But a weekend in a Kela-glass igloo would set us back around £1,000 and that’s without flights. Nearby Lapland could be a more cost effective alternative but not by much. While Finland remains firmly on the bucket list, POD is growing up way to fast. Don’t get me wrong she’s a huge believer and embraces all things magical but she turns six on Christmas Day. Yes I know we’re not sure how that happened either!
We’re passionate about ensuring she has the best experiences to keep her believing. Tickets for LaplandUK have just gone on sale so we thought we’d have a nose to see what’s on offer. Christmas is a magical time for any child but with POD’s birthday on the 25th December too, we like to make it particularly special.
LaplandUK was founded 9 years ago by a husband and wife team who were frustrated by the lack of UK based Christmas experiences. We know that feeling. Our most memorable to date has been at Painshill Park in Surrey where Santa resides in an actual crystal grotto. We’re all about authenticity in the Dove household and lets face it, that’s never going to come from a retailer is it?
We always presumed, I’ve no idea why, that LaplandUK was located miles away from us. In actual fact it’s situated in the heart of The Crown Estate in Ascot, Berkshire – a mere 45 minutes from our home in Surrey. Children are personally invited to LaplandUK by Father Christmas which is a wonderful touch. On arrival they’re given Elf Passports which they can get stamped as they head down secret pathways, uncover the hidden Elven village and help the Elves.
With the 3.5 hour journey including toy making, gingerbread decorating with Mother Christmas, ice skating, huskies and reindeer, it’s sounds like there’s much to keep children occupied. There’s also writing letters at the eleves post office and a personalised meeting with Father Christmas. The fact it’s got the theatrical element makes it even more exciting for us. POD loves singing, dancing and acting already so it seems like the cherry on the top in making the experience more believable.
LaplandUK is open from Saturday 19th November until Christmas Eve 2016. For more information on tickets and what they include, check out the LaplandUK website. Doesn’t it look AMAZING? We’re itching to discover how magical an experience it really is. We’d love to know if you’ve been before and what you thought.
Photographs courtesy of LaplandUK
We’ve booked and we’re going next weekend! Super excited, will let you know how it goes!