We’ve been to Willows Farm, in St Albans, Herfordshire many, many times. It’s very easy to get to from London and only takes about half an hour in the car and it honestly is, the best farm day out we know.They have traditional fair ground rides all year round, an immense soft play centre which covers days of all weathers, animals to feed and pet, animals to see and admire, shows, birds of prey, tractor rides, play equipment and loads, loads more.

What I especially love is that there is always something new. Not just in their adaptions for different times of the year (of which there are many from the Easter Eggstravaganza to the Potato Shindig) but they do always have something new to see and do it seems too. In the summer it was the introduction of a beach like area for sand and water play where we spent absolutely ages, next year it’s going to be something with a Peter rabbit theme for the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s birth and it doesn’t matter how many times you visit, you never manage to do everything! If I lived even closer then I’d buy an annual pass because I just know we would never tire of it and this weekend, we were very lucky indeed, to be one of the first families to enter their magical Christmas experience.

We of course have been to the Christmas event in past years and when we didn’t make it last year the children noticed and were quite disgruntled. This year I’m so glad we managed to fit it in because not only is it every bit as wonderful as always at their festive hands but it is, in fact, even better!

There’s ice skating which is especially geared up for children with the synthetic ice and double bladed over the shoe skates for tiny ones, Santas Grotto where he gives children a golden key to exchange it for a toy in his toy shop and this year they have also added a ‘Make Your Own Bear-y Christmas Bear’! Children can enter the elves workshop and stuff their very own teddy bear to take home and as per usual, it all comes as part of the ticket price! I have to say there are clothes for the bears which can be bought separately for the bear after he or she has been stuffed as we originally thought this was part of the package and it’s not – just something to ‘bear’ in mind when budgeting or managing expectations! Tickets (which include everyting aside from the bear outfits) are £25 for children (£10 for adults and £15 for children under 2 when taking part in festive activities) but they are DISCOUNTED on line right now so it’s definitely worth booking!

It’s not the cheapest day out for sure but it’s certainly worth the money you do pay as I know a visit to Father Christmas in a local department store can cost around a tenner alone and the gifts they get given at those sort of events aren’t always the best. The presents the children can choose from in the shop at Willows, which is even bigger and better than ever this year, are worth around a tenner themselves and then there’s the teddy bear on top!

We arrived at 10am when the farm opened and we stayed until 5.30 yet we’d still not done everything! We never got around to writing Father Christmas a letter (he WILL write back if you do), we didn’t manage to fit in the panto or the nativity either… We also could have played for hours more hours and everyone was a little disappointed to be leaving! We spent the day with our great friends from MummyEndeavours and every single one of the children had a smile on their faces ALL day long!

As well as all the festive fun which has seen Willows transform into a winter wonderland there are all the things we love avout the farm all year round. The summer fun of water play might be out but soft play, animal petting and feeding, play equipment, fair ground rides, shows, tractor riding and much more are still on offer so you can see why we didn’t manage to see and do everything!

We love, love, LOVE Willows and had the most brilliant day! We also ate some rather yummy food in the restaurants at lunch time and managed to polish off a cream tea just before we left too… Totally recommend! We bumped into lots of lovely bloggers yesterday so if you don’t take my word for it then do take a look at their blogs for more Willows inspiration too! It was lovely to see Lilinha and Sian with their families and every time we did they all had smiles on their faces as big as ours! I’m smiling even just thinking about it!

Here’s a little video of our fun day at the Willows Santa Spectacular!

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