HAVING never taken our children to a theme park or to see Father Christmas before, the trip to Santa’s Grotto at Paultons was clearly going to be a big deal.

In years bc (before children), I would never have considered starting the Christmas festivities this early, but Christmas has already been the talk of our house for some time.

And from the moment we walked through the entrance doors at Paultons and were met by the sight of a giant musical Christmas tree, it definitely did begin to feel a lot like Christmas.

Fortunately, we had morning tickets for our Santa visit, as our three and a half year old was good for nothing until we went.

I imagine it gets pretty busy closer to Christmas, but one of the advantages of our opening weekend visit was the lack of queues. We arrived at the Grotto at our allotted time and were straight into the walkthrough, where an animatronic Rudolph introduced us to his adventure, to find his way back to Santa on Christmas Eve.

We then wandered through snowy landscapes where we were serenaded with Christmas songs by more animatronic creatures.

I have to admit, we were a bit concerned that our little ones, aged three and a half and one and a half, would be frightened by some of them, including a giant snowman, but although the older one required carrying, she held it together, and they both absolutely loved the cute small creatures, such as baby seals and squirrels that they had fun spotting.

They were both, unsurprisingly, a bit unsure about Father Christmas but he and the elves who had taken us in took lots of time with them to put them at their ease and we didn’t feel at all hurried.

It was a bit hard for our eldest to understand why Santa didn’t give us her present himself. You have to collect them from a hut opposite the grotto, after viewing the official photo of your kids with Santa which is available to purchase.

In retrospect, we should have taken the time to explain that the elves were looking after the presents and that, although it was from Santa, he wouldn’t actually be the one handing it over.

But as soon as the wrapping paper had been removed any brief upset was soon forgotten as they both had really lovely gifts.

Grown-ups don’t get a present but do make sure you collect your complimentary hot punch and mince pie from the café – just what you needed having got a bit chilly.

There’s more than just the Santa’s Grotto experience at Paultons to get you in the Christmas mood, which means that even if you’re not going to see the Big Man you can still enjoy some festive cheer.

For our little ones, the highlight of the day was Snow Time with Frosty on Show Street.

This involved a giant snowman and some Christmas songs but also, as far as they were concerned far more interestingly, fake snow being pumped out.

This only happens a few times a day so make sure you check the show times on arrival.

Other Chistmassy things include a sweet Christmas Storytime live performance on the Show Stage, a model of the Peppa Pig Santa and the Chritstmas tree lights show in the main Plaza.

Our older child also loved the 4D film Birds of a Feather, which involved being thrown about in our cinema seats and being snowed on again among other things.

As this was our first Paultons trip we had a long day and were still there at dusk when all the lights looked really magical – definitely worth hanging on for if you can.

As the park make very clear on their website, not all of the rides are open at this time of year, but the vast majority were and there was more enough to keep us entertained for a good six hours with plenty of things we didn’t have time for.

It was our first trip to Paultons but it won’t be our last – in fact I think we’ll probably be back again this side of Christmas!

Christmas at Paultons runs on selected dates until December 23. Tickets are available from paultonspark.co.uk/attractions/christmas or by calling 023 8081 4442.