just visited Santa

[hmb]

At the Nene Valley railway, and it was excellent! The kids had a great time, saw Santa and had an hour long trip in a steam train to Peterborough. Lots of helpers, Santa on the train as well as in his grotto. Mince pies and wine /spirits and a hot drink for the adults, soft drinks and sweeties for the kids. A toy worth about £5 for the kids. It was great! And before anyone tells me that ads are not allowed, I know. I'm nothing to do with the organisations, just a very satisfied punter.

And they had Thomas! Not advertised but he was there! as named by Rev Awdrey. Ds was so excited!

hmb - you must live somewhere near me!

Lincoln, so we had a 80 minute drive, and it was worth every minute. Were are you?

I'm in Peterborough so not far from you.

It was wet there today!!

Did you brave the crowds in Queensgate?

The deal didn't let you get off the train! So you get on the train at the Nene valley station (having visited Santa in his grotto), chuff your way to Peterbrough, wait for a bit and then chuff back. Sounds daft but it is great fun and the kids love it. We meet up with some friends and the mums get sloshed and we all get to catch up on the news.

Ds has a serious railway fixation and so was in 7th heaven

I keep meaning to take ds to NVR but haven't got round to it yet. The last time I went I was still at school. Our creepy librarian was a volunteer there so it put us all off!

Some of the volunteers are serious about their trains! I mentioned to one of them that last time we were in a carriage that looked like the one in Harry Potter, and he looked at me aghast, ' But it is a French train', and looked at me as if I were totaly mad! Some of them know more about trains than is strictly good for them Mind you, ds will probably be one of them one day!

But they were smashing people, very friendly and helpful.

Our school librarian was definitely obsessed. He walked around in one of those fancy uniforms and even wrote books about steam trains. He meant well but really needed to get out more.

He is probably still working there!!

That's a scary thought! You might even have seen him!!! He looks like the comb-over man from the Hamlet cigar ad. He also has thick old-NHS style glasses. Scarily he looked exactly the same when he was in his 20's!

We went there yesterday aswell it was brilliant. My ds is 3 on Christmas day and we took him to see Thomas as a birthday treat. We stopped off at the Thomas toy shop afterwards to get an extra gift. Will definitely go back next year.

ooh I'm in Peterborough too!!! took the kids up to Spalding to see the reindeer & santa at Baytree.

Hello helenmc! Have you always lived in P'boro?