Santa’s Christmas Steam Adventure

"It's Santa's train!"

I am a bit of a train geek. I am blaming this on the fact that I have two boys and the eldest has always loved trains. On Saturday we headed over to the National Railway Museum at York for the launch of Santa’a Christmas Steam Adventure, and we loved every minute!

The museum itself we have visited many times and Kieran has also been with school. It is free to enter and there is so much to see and do! More details on the NRM can be found here.

On arrival to the special festive event we were cheerfully greeted and shown into the festive area (for ticket holders only) where we could see a whole array of festive delights!

Our tickets were for 12.45pm and at 12.40pm we were ushered onto the Santa Express. Kieran was agog! A train AND Santa? Surely it doesn’t get any better than this? The children were all invited to take one of the cushions and warm blankets that were dotted around and get snuggled up and comfy. The storytelling began and the storyteller had a fantastic knack of capturing the children’s imagination and keeping them involved as the story progressed.

Let the storytelling begin!

I won’t tell you much more about this because I really don’t want to spoil the surprise, but Santa did arrive and everyone was given an age appropriate gift by the wide-eyed man in red! The tickets for this event are £7.50 for a child and £5 for an adult (which includes a mince pie and hot drink in the cafe) and it is worth every penny. The gift that Kieran received from Santa was worth more than the ticket price alone, no “tat” like you sometimes see at various grottos and the like.

Santa’s Christmas Steam Adventure runs literally right up until Christmas, see below for details and visit here to book.

Dates and times

  • November 19, 20
  • November 26, 27
  • December 3, 4
  • December 10, 11
  • December 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

Times are 10:30, 11:15, 12:00, 12:45, 13:45, 14:30, 15:15, 16:00.

This was a fantastic way to spend the day and Kieran is still talking about it. This is the first time Santa has visited the NRM for a long time and seeing as he has already been a bit hit, I hope we can see him next year too!

The staff were brilliant! Nothing was too much trouble and there were smiles a-plenty. This is Rhona, one of the staff helping out who really did make you believe it was Christmas with her genuine cheerfulness!
We have always loved the education side to the NRM. A festive occasion it may have been but there is still a lot to see and do outside of the event making it a full visit!

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Don’t forget that you can be kept up to date with the NRM’s news and offers on Facebook and Twitter!

*We were offered free tickets to this event in exchange for a write up of the first day of the event. This review is based purely on our experiences as a family and the NRM have had no influence over this. Neither has Santa.

The Tesco ezine gift guide and your chance to win a £100 gift card!

Christmas decorations are on sale, Christmas fairs and events are starting and before long the advent calendars will be opening. The festive season has definitely started!

Tesco recognise that are budgets are tight these days, and that everybody feels it even more at Christmas. A recent survey by a high street bank found that across the UK people will spend on average £378 on gifts alone for their immediate family. And that’s not including what we’ll spend on going out, eating and drinking over the festive season.

To celebrate the launch of their Christmas ezine Gift Guide, the lovelies from Tesco Magazine online would like to help with the load by offering one of my readers a 1 x £100 Tesco gift voucher.

For the first time, this year Tesco has created their Christmas Gift Guide exclusively online. This easy to navigate and quite frankly blooming gorgeous interactive ezine is packed with shopping inspiration, fashion and party glamour and sparkling ideas for festive entertainment. Be warned, it is not for anyone with scrooge-like tendencies as it is the ultimate festive feeling guide.

For gift ideas, gift wrapping, fashion inspiration for around the festive season and much more it really is a must read!

 The competition!

Visit the Ezine here and leave me a comment telling my what your favourite page is. For example my entry (if I were allowed) would be:

I love the Get The Look section, I never know what to wear on Xmas day that is comfortable but looks great in the photos!“.

It really is as simple as that. Do make sure that you are following Tesco Magazine on Twitter  for more chances to win gift vouchers and goodies for Christmas! Good luck all!

Terms and conditions

  • The competition ends midday on Monday 21st November. No entries after this time will be accepted.
  • The winner will be chosen by randomiser and contacted the same day. If the winner does not respond with their details before 5pm on Wednesday 23rd November a new winner will be chosen.
  • The prize is a 1 x £100 Tesco gift voucher, supplied by Tesco. No alternative can or will be offered.
  • You must be over 18 and based in the UK to enter.
  • Entrants must ensure they leave a way that they can be contacted if they are chosen as the winner.

COMPETITION CLOSED – THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ENTERING. THE WINNER IS….. “BOB” (CONTACT DETAILS PROVIDED).