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Original poster

Christmas days out to avoid!

141 replies

Outspokenhippo · 27/09/2026 11:46

Just wanted to give anyone who is interested a heads up about a place to avoid for a Christmas Day out. Last year we went to the Four Kingdoms and I honestly could have wept. It was awful. Think Nessa’s (Gavin and Stacey) Christmas grotto and you’re not far off. The place is filthy. I spent a considerable amount of time filling out profiles for each of us, with information to be used for said visit. Hardly any of it was used. IT COST A FORTUNE. I’m talking over £400 for 3 kids and 2 adults. I thought maybe a post about places to avoid would be helpful. This year we are doing the polar express at Churnet, if that’s crap I’m quitting Christmas for good. 🎅🏽

OP posts:
DancingonmyOwn88 · 29/09/2026 09:31

I think the trouble is with a lot of these places is that they become a victim of their own success. They have one really great year but then they want to capitalise on it by making it bigger, better, more expensive, more money spinners once you’re there, they make more money but they’ve ruined the experience.

Hogett · 29/09/2026 09:38

Has anyone done Glasgow Christmas Market? DD has just moved to Glasgow and wants us to visit when it first opens. Just wondered if it was worth it? We are going up anyway, just want to avoid it if naff and busy.

VictoriaEra · 29/09/2026 09:38

Epoisses · 27/09/2026 17:42

Leeds and Manchester Xmas markets are both shocking. Never intentionally been to either but stumbled upon them.

Love Manchester Christmas markets. Lovely atmosphere.

Blogswife · 29/09/2026 09:42

DonewhatIcando · 27/09/2026 12:29

@Outspokenhippo
York Christmas Market (I live in York) nightmare for crowds but people seem to love it.
I dont get it at all, maybe as I live here and end up having a wander through (early, before the crowds arrive) same tat they sell every year, food stalls are mega expensive.
Im a Grinch btw 😉

Went a couple of years ago - really disappointed as so poor .We used to take the kids there years ago when they had an ice rink , it was brilliant back then but sadly gone downhill .
We went to Birmingham last year - even more disappointing. I’m quitting Xmas markets as full of crap these days

Dinosaurwaffle · 29/09/2026 09:48

I really liked Chatsworth. The house tour was one of the best things I've seen, and we definitely weren't shuffled around quickly in a crowd as some previous posters experienced. Everything from tickets to the parking was really well organised. The Christmas market was very busy though and on a slope which wasn't ideal with a pushchair! But I expected it to be busy. Lots to see with the gardens and house as well, spent a few hours there at least so I thought the price was worth it.

NoWordForFluffy · 30/09/2026 20:07

Hogett · 29/09/2026 09:38

Has anyone done Glasgow Christmas Market? DD has just moved to Glasgow and wants us to visit when it first opens. Just wondered if it was worth it? We are going up anyway, just want to avoid it if naff and busy.

Me. It's no different to any other. Ubiquitous wooden huts selling the same old over-priced things as all the others!

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 01/10/2026 21:18

Hogett · 29/09/2026 09:38

Has anyone done Glasgow Christmas Market? DD has just moved to Glasgow and wants us to visit when it first opens. Just wondered if it was worth it? We are going up anyway, just want to avoid it if naff and busy.

We were in Glasgow last year end December , wandered through the Enoch Square Market .
Theres one at Glasgow Green which we didn't go to but it's bigger .
I didn't think of this when I was thinking Christmas Markets !

Lots of nice lights though .

Also went to the Edinburgh Princes Street one but that was mainly so that DD and DH could go on the tall twirly thing that I would not set foot on Xmas Grin

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 02/10/2026 10:03

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 01/10/2026 21:18

We were in Glasgow last year end December , wandered through the Enoch Square Market .
Theres one at Glasgow Green which we didn't go to but it's bigger .
I didn't think of this when I was thinking Christmas Markets !

Lots of nice lights though .

Also went to the Edinburgh Princes Street one but that was mainly so that DD and DH could go on the tall twirly thing that I would not set foot on Xmas Grin

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Ooops that should've read end November

By end of December the marlkets have gone .
Bath Christmas Market was finishing the weekend we went , that was early December

SayDoWhatNow · 02/10/2026 10:53

CharityShopCharlie · 28/09/2026 00:22

We're going to Edinburgh the weekend of 21/22 November. Will it be crazy then?

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I'm not sure - it's pretty early on so maybe not!

That said, I wouldn't plan to spend the whole day at the Christmas market. Walk up Lothian Road to Bruntsfield/ Morningside Road or go over Dean Bridge into Stockbridge and there are lots of small independent stores and cafes that will have higher quality Christmas gifts and lots of lovely Christmas displays/lights too!

giraffesandpigeonstoo · 02/10/2026 11:06

MJagain · 27/09/2026 15:21

To be honest I’ve never had a good Xmas day out at these commercial places. They’re all overpriced & overcrowded.

Agree.

I hate hate hate how commercialised it all is. Everything is monetised. And they play into adults and kids having FOMO and booking and paying….and they do.

I largely just refuse to do it now.

I keep a handful of cash so I can say “yes”
to the kids when they ask for fairly innocuous treats - hot chocolates etc when we are just out and about looking at the lights etc.

But anything that’s marketed and ticketed like this I just avoid.

The reality never lives up to the expectation. Better to set the bar low with low key things and be pleasantly surprised.

pinkksugarmouse · 03/10/2026 19:07

LittleGreenShoots · 27/09/2026 19:05

Coolings (a chain of Garden Centres in South London) was so over hyped and expensive for what it was. Long queues outside freezing our butts off to be led through a series of sheds with - honestly, not fun- 'activities' before being allowed in to see Santa in another shed. Each activity shed was pretty stark - for instance find the magic key behind whichever of the ten doors it was hidden behind, but a kid from another family in your group found it thirty seconds in so now you have to wait your allotted 5 minutes until they can usher everyone around on the conveyor belt. There was just lots of waiting by a door guarded by an elf who kept peeking behind a curtain to check when it was 'clear'.

Maybe that would all have been ok if it wasn't the least magical Santa imaginable when we got there. No small talk or story telling, right into the pictures because that's where the money is, and also I suspect because they were running late and rushing. Santa became just another tick box conveyor belt stop. Pictures were very clearly taken in a shed and the staging looks awful- at least partly because the space they used was tiny. Santa didn't even give them a toy- they needed to pick this themselves off a shelf in the next shed- relegating Santa to something akin to a photo prop.

I was most mad at myself because the shopping centre Santa would have been about a quarter of the price and a much better and warmer experience, with a proper slot to talk with and joke with Santa. My kids still remember which gifts came personally handed from Santa and treasure them. I let myself be led by the adverts promising a magical christmas experience but more complicated is not more magical! It's definitely back to the shopping centre again for us this year. People try and over engineer it but you just need a good Santa, a good grotto and time to talk.

So sorry you and your children got such a poor santa. If the guy isn't enthusiastic then he doesn't meet the needs of the role. He might be bored after several hours of the same thing but for each child its a special moment and he should want to make it magical. Even having an absoultely wonderful grotto would be ruined by a bland Santa.

Constantrunner · 03/10/2026 19:22

Seziah · 29/09/2026 09:08

It wasn’t as bad as some of the places/events on here but I went to the Christmas lights trail at Bedgebury Pinetum and Forest in Kent, and I wouldn’t bother. It was sponsored by a big record label and it was very commercial-feeling and very short. Near the exit we had a sit down just to spend a bit more time there and get more value! A woman walked past saying “was that it??”.
It was stuff like a row of big light up candy canes, or a tunnel made from coloured fairy lights - basically stuff you can see in a big garden centre. A family of 4 is £72 and it felt like most of that cost goes on licensing the Christmas pop songs. There are a couple of great ones in the south east that are way better

I felt like that. We are planning this year to only go to a few garden centres that have lovely Christmas displays.

5foot5 · 04/10/2026 23:50

Sensiblesal · 28/09/2026 01:09

Chatsworth House/cmas market.

they have so many people booked that you are herded round the house super speed in a big crowd of people so you can’t look at anything/enjoy it.

Christmas market has lots of food stalls but not enough seating.

not worth the price

Hard disagree actually.

I have been going every year for ages and that has definitely not been my experience. I go with my sisters and have never felt rushed or herded, we take as long as we like. And the market you describe almost sounds like a different market one to what I visit every year. Loads of stalls with a very wide variety of goods.

We always go on a weekday though, not a weekend so I don't know if that makes a difference.

To me it always feels like the real start to Christmas as we have such a lovely day. The Christmas market at Haddon Hall is also very good.

5foot5 · 05/10/2026 00:09

This year we are doing the polar express at Churnet, if that’s crap I’m quitting Christmas for good.

@Outspokenhippo Is that the one that goes from Cheddleton Station in Staffordshire? If so you might be in luck.

We haven't been for a few years but for two years running (2018/2019) we did their Santa Express and it was lovely.

In 2019 we did it on Christmas Eve with PILs as they were quite elderly and it was difficult to find days out that they could manage. On that day you could only make a booking if you were filling a whole carriage, i.e. 6 people. There were only five of us, all adults, so we booked and paid for an additional ( fictitious) child so we could fill a carriage. On the booking they wanted to know age and sex of child so we said five year old boy and thought no more about it.

Somewhat embarrassed on the day when Santa bounded in to our carriage with a present asking where the little lad was. I hastily mumbled some excuse about having to leave him at home because he had flu and Santa looked at me like I was some kind of monster and silently handed over the present to take home for him. In my defence I donated the present to a charity collection the following Christmas.

JoeSikoraTommysStory · 05/10/2026 01:37

SummerT1me3 · 27/09/2026 19:36

I’m shocked by this. We genuinely love Newcastle market and visit annually, sometimes twice. all thinks sold are made within something like 15 miles of Newcastle so unlike a lot of the other markets it’s local produce, not Chinese tat

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I agree @SummerT1me3 Newcastles Christmas market is definitely one of the best in the UK.

Madchihuahualady · 05/10/2026 04:44

I live in Norfolk, last year we got tickets for the Christmas market at the Norfolk Showground, there were plenty of stalls, a lot of food and drink ones but found it all underwhelming.
Now on the other hand even though this is a thread for Christmas outings to avoid, I have found places like the National Trust are quite special at Christmas time. I went to Blickling Hall in Norfolk last year in the daytime which I found very enjoyable, we went during the week so wasn't as busy, a tad pricey as it is National Trust. I also went to Holkham Hall at candlelight, now that was absolutely magical, I would highly recommend.

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