Christmas Fun at Coombe Mill

Last week I wrote about the feed run at Coombe Mill which is run daily for all visitors that stay. Christmas is no different although they do put back the feed run by an hour to give the kids some extra time to open all the presents that Santa brings, but that isn’t all that happens during Christmas at Coombe Mill.

Other activities offered by Fiona, Nick and the family also include activity hour.  I always follow their adventures on the blog so I was excited to see what we would be doing.

Last year I fashioned our table decoration out of our Christingle Orange but this year the little ones and Abbey made their own with the help of Fiona and Guy.  We halved a potato, wrapped it in foil and carefully made holes in the potato using a skewer before inserting ferns and holly that had been collected from the fairy garden.  We even attempted to make stars, although some had more success than others.

The kids also got to make their very own reindeer food that we took out to feed the deer on Christmas Eve afternoon before hanging the messages in the fairy garden.

The one event Isaac and Eliza have been looking forward to since last Christmas is the Santa Express.  It is the Coombe Mill train we all know and love, only with sparkly decorations and a very special guest and presents!  The addition of the working signal and Coombe Halt, with flag, made the train ride even more fun as the kids waiting to ride the train got something to do too.

Ever wondered what the Coombe Mill train is like for the children – here is our Go Pro video of the Santa Express:

Once the Coombe Mill Express had made its last journey of the day, we all clambered in our cars and headed out to the next village along, St Tudy, for their Christingle Service.

The whole service is centred around children so it gets them involved.  The kids got to go to the front for the blessing of the crib, sang our favourite carols and then each got their own Christingle to parade around the church.  Isaac held one with a candle, but Eliza and Sebby got ones with glow sticks as it was safer.

After the service we found the village decorated with fairy lights and were treated to Mulled Wine and a Mince Pie whilst Father Christmas stopped off in his sleigh to give the children a small gift.

Back at Coombe Mill we were then invited into Fiona and Nick’s home where we were treated to a delicious buffet and the most amazing cakes.  The kids headed off upstairs with Fiona’s tribe and it was lovely to get some adult conversation with Fiona, Nick and the other guests.

We stayed for an hour or so before heading back to our cottage to settle the kids and await the arrival of Father Christmas.  Thankfully the big man got our message and delivered the his presents to the correct place and the little ones woke up the whole house at 6am.  Presents done, it was then time to head out and feed the animals, only an hour later than normal to give us time to get organised.

As this is probably the most special run of the year we attached our Go Pro to Isaac and filmed the whole thing from a child’s perspective.  I have over an hour of footage but here are our highlights:

Animals fed, it was then time to go back to the cottage and open the presents under the tree……….(to be continued)…………