Santa’s Magical Grotto at Squires

The Milford Centre at Secretts is in the heart of Surrey and offers a wealth of amazing plants, flowers and fabulous gifts. The company was founded over seventy years ago and today has garden centres located in London and the South East.

From now until Christmas Eve, their Milford, Badshot Lea and Shepperton centres offer an interactive live magic show and the opportunity to meet Santa.

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While waiting for the big man to arrive in Milford, we took in wonderful blooms and beautiful berries. Not just red but purple, orange and yellow too.

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POD stood patiently waiting for Father Christmas to arrive while clutching Baby Annabell and watching the elves around her. The look on her face suggested she wasn’t quite sure what to expect but she was excited. And still rocking the headband round the forehead look!

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There were cries of “oh look there’s Santa” by numerous children including POD when the car was spotted. Accompanied by elves, there was almost a deep intake of breath when he stepped outside his festively themed Morris Minor and waved.

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And what a great car it was – adorned with fir cones, baubles, berries and ribbons.

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A little smile spread across POD’s face when he came over. He spent a few minutes with some of the children asking what they wanted for Christmas.

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If you ask POD what she wants, it’s always a pink unicorn so that’s what we were expecting. We were quite surprised when she asked for a reindeer!

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Squires had rather cleverly created snow which was white foam that seemingly fell from the sky. POD doesn’t remember snow so she’s yet to experience building a snowman – a continual request thanks to the film Frozen! It wasn’t long before she got used to what was happening and was determined for Baby Annabell to catch snow on her head!

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We then passed through the Garden Centre, where there were oodles of absolute gems to be discovered, before reaching Santa’s candy cane grotto. There we met Santa’s nephew, Santoe, who dazzled us with a spot of Christmas magic. He’d borrowed a bag from his uncle and used toilet paper, tea bags, extra hot chili sauce and washing powder to create sweets. After a little abracadabra of course!

The walk to see Santa took us through lit corridors adorned with giant sweets and a game of ‘what’s in the box’ which POD loved. She thoroughly enjoyed seeing Santa and got a present too. You can probably guess what she asked for…!

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Thank you to Squires for the complementary tickets and a fun filled few hours. We’re now on the hunt for a reindeer or a pink unicorn!


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Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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  • Sara (@mumturnedmom) December 8, 2014 at 3:35 am

    Fabulous! A pink unicorn, love it, good luck with that 🙂 Love the expressions on POD’s face, just wonderful x

    • Charly Dove December 8, 2014 at 10:50 pm

      *looks for reindeer and unicorn under the sofa*

  • You Baby Me Mummy December 8, 2014 at 9:11 am

    It looks fabulous! She is just scrummy! x

    • Charly Dove December 8, 2014 at 10:50 pm

      Aww thank you 🙂

  • Louise December 8, 2014 at 9:28 am

    I love the look of wonder on PODs face – she looks absolutely captivated by it all. Love seeing the magic of Christmas through a child’s eyes. Santa’s festive Morris Minor looks amazing and your berry photos are beautiful 🙂

    • Charly Dove December 8, 2014 at 10:51 pm

      POD loved it Louise, had such a great time. Loved the berries – so many absolute gems there 🙂

  • Coombe Mill December 8, 2014 at 10:22 am

    What an interesting turn from Santa arriving on a sleigh. I love the Morris Minor decorated up, it looks wonderful! Good luck finding her a pink unicorn and a reindeer, I hope you can find them!

    • Coombe Mill December 13, 2014 at 11:11 am

      Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.

  • Helen C December 8, 2014 at 10:47 am

    This looks great, they’d obviously put in a lot of effort with Santa’s car and the fake snow (love the hairband too!)

  • Louise Perry Fairweather December 8, 2014 at 6:15 pm

    Her face with Santa is a picture! Beautiful x

  • Californian Mum in London December 8, 2014 at 8:28 pm

    Looks like a lovely time. We went to one of the Squires last year to see Father Christmas but we didn’t see him arrive. Such style!

  • Sam December 8, 2014 at 8:37 pm

    Oh it looks like POD loved it! But wow, it must have been really quiet if Santa managed to go and ask every child what they wanted for Christmas – he would have been there all day at Badshot Lea – It was heaving! I’ll have to try out the Milford branch. X

    • Charly Dove December 8, 2014 at 10:49 pm

      We were there early on launch day. Was busy but Santa escaped to his grotto before the masses arrived 🙂

  • Sophie Lovett December 9, 2014 at 3:22 pm

    Ah so lovely! The look on POD’s face is just magical. Good luck finding that reindeer 😉 xx

  • Mia Francis December 13, 2014 at 6:16 pm

    OMG! she is so pretty.Love the innocence in her eyes. God bless her. Merry Christmas!

  • Dean December 14, 2014 at 11:33 am

    Lovely photos as usual and absolutely adore Santa’s car! So festive 🙂 #countrykids.