Santa well-chuffed with transport to Stewarts Garden Centres in Dorset

Later in the day, they will make their way to the Broomhill centre near Wimborne and arrive in style on another engine called Alice. The Wallis and Steevens steam tractor was built in 1919 and will chuff and puff Santa into the car park at 1.30pm.

Santa Claus always draws a large crowd of visitor to the Stewarts’ car parks when he arrives. This year the Dorset Youth Marching Band will also be playing a variety of seasonal tunes to herald the opening of the very popular grotto where boys and girls can tell Santa what they want for Christmas and receive a present. The Stewarts’ real reindeer will also be back to be viewed by visitors following a relaxing year off in their field.

Christmas departments have already been opened with a charity preview evening where the Bournemouth Hospital Charity held a raffle to win £250 worth of vouchers and many of the visitors enjoyed their first Christmas dinner with all the festive trimmings.

Terry Head, Retail and Marketing Director, said, “Our staff always work hard to make Christmas a great and wonderful experience for our loyal customers and friends. Our young visitors love to see Thomas the Tank Engine running on our displays at both centres and we have ensured that remains within our new brighter layout and a wider product range, especially for festive lighting. We also have a permanent Santa Selfie booth at Christchurch for some fun photos.”