30 November 2023 , 10:43
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Anyone who's been to LaplandUK will know how magical it is to meet Santa and his elves.
If you've got or know children, are a child, or are remotely interested in festive happenings, then you will probably have heard of the Berkshire based attraction is a phenomenon in Christmas loving circles and a huge draw for young and old.
Many months before the gates swung open in November this year, tickets had sold out. And they're not cheap. One mum worked out that they spent more than £500 on a day's visit for four people, having booked eight months before their visit.
Given it's possible to fly to the actual Lapland in northern Scandinavia for close that price, the Home Counties alternative must really be doing something right to keep the punters flocking as it is.
Lapland UK offers up an immersive theatrical experience for families (Handout)Fifteen years ago, at the age of 16, I found myself walking in at the ground floor to what is now a seasonal sensation. Having tired of earning £4 an hour scrubbing tea pots clean for my local National Trust at the weekend, I was jumped at the chance to more than double my wage as a Christmas elf when LaplandUK launched in Kent.
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Two days a week I'd head out to Bewl Water reservoir and plunge through the Christmas portal, which the founders told us they'd set up to transport festive families to Lapland without the emissions typically associated with a lengthy flight.
With curly elf slippers to cover my curly elf toes, a fetching maroon pair of dungarees and a furry hat on, my AS Level coursework became a distant memory as I got well into the spirit of things.
After months of serving disappointing scones to the displeasure of my grouchy tea shop manager, it was a delight to go to work in such a slickly put together place. Like clockwork a large team of event planners, movie producers in between films and aspiring actors would come together to transform themselves into Christmas characters with absolute enthusiasm.
Families would almost invariably react with delight as they whizzed around the village ice rink, meet real huskies and reindeer, and listen to a story told by Mother Christmas, all beneath towering fir trees glistening with snow. Fathers - for some reason more regularly sceptical about the event - would find find themselves almost involuntarily getting into the swing of things, realising their toes were tapping away to jingly background music of their own volition.
The climax of the day for visitors was invariably the chance to meet Mr Christmas himself. As elves, we played a crucial role in this significant process. We would meet groups in a large cabin where they had been patiently waiting for their turn, having learned their names from a central elf reception. The trip down to Father Christmas' cabin was through the Magical Forest, a winding maze of evergreens that required a fair amount of remembering and navigational nous to successfully get through.
Once there - having either skipped ahead to avoid hearing another dad telling the 'elf and safety' joke or spent the walk whipping already excited children into a pre-Santa frenzy - I would tell the family that I had to see if Father Christmas was awake and sneak inside.
It was at this point that an extra dose of secret magic came into play. Suffice to say, once Santa has brushed his beard free from mince pie crumbs and readied himself for his guests, he is equipped with scepticism shattering tools.
It's a chance for kids to see Father Christmas (DAILY MIRROR)"Ohh Jamie, it's so good to see you. How is your friend Oliver? I saw him just last week. He already told me all about the Playstation you're hoping for," he would chuckle, to the bewilderment of the children eagerly awaiting to say hello. "Now your teacher tells me that you've been very good this year, but hopes that you can try a little bit harder in geography and stop chatting to Adrian so much next year."
While my predicted results may have slipped down a grade come the start of January term after weekends spent focusing on Christmas rather than academic success, the joy of seeing children genuinely transported and their parents subsequently so delighted, was certainly worth it. As is, I would argue, the hefty price of a trip to LaplandUK.