Christmas at Calke

 Apologies for the absence, preparing for Christmas this year has taken its toll and something had to give, unfortunatley that has been blogging! I have been incredibly busy just about every single day of December so far and now I have finished work and Mr Bee has finished school, I am very much looking forward to some quiet time to actually enjoy the festivities!

 This afternoon we made our annual visit to the Calke Christmas event. Our third year in succession, it seems to have become a tradition. I think this year has been the busiest it has ever been and the atmosphere was fantastic! We had a delicious lunch and roamed around the Fine Food Fair, we were very pleased with our artisan fudge purchase!

We made our visit to see Father Christmas, it was the longest we have had to wait (an hour!) but as always, he was fantastic and truly worth the wait in the bitter cold.

Louie had fun amusing himself in the queue, playing on the mounting block, watching the man with the music box and having a turn on the adorable old fashioned carousel, whilst Pappy got well and truly blown away, his hair was a picture!

Mr Bee and Father Christmas got on like a house on fire! Louie warned Santa  not to eat too many mince pies and they had a good old giggle together, it was absolutely adorable.

After another warm cup of tea and a play on the  heaving play park, we headed in to the gardens for the lights and labrynths trail starting from the church and ending in the house. We bumped in to one of Louie's school friends which made the day even more magical for him, as they ran together giggling along the way.
St Giles' was lit up in full glory and was a beautiful place to stand and watch the sun settle behind the trees on the shortest day of the year (whilst Louie spent aaaaages climbing a conifer...)

Another magical day spent at our lovely Calke, stunning as ever.