Warwick Castle at Christmastime

I’d never been to Warwick Castle before, despite it only being around an hour away from me. But last Sunday we took a quick trip there for the afternoon with our Merlin Annual Passes to see the beautiful castle and grounds at Christmastime and to visit Santa.

Warwick Castle is a really amazing place, with stunning grounds and castle. There’s lots to do there on any day, and even more during the Christmas season.

We first of all went to watch the Winter Birds of Prey show which Ava really enjoyed and was fun, despite it being freeeezing. We met two lovely owls and enjoyed watching them flying about and returning to their trainer. I wasn’t quite expecting to hear him (the man, not the owl) talking about feeding the owls bits of squirrel and whole baby chicks – which we then got to watch – it was strangely interesting and a bit gross (the owl takes it down whole!). That’s nature I guess!

We then wandered around the castle grounds a bit, grabbed a ticket for Storytime with Santa later on, and went to check out the Horrible Histories maze. It’s a really kid-friendly maze with lots of gaps to get through, to find any lost children a bit more easily, and lots of fun interactive bits. Ava said she didn’t want to go into the maze at first because she was a bit scared (she’s scared of everything at the moment), but she completely loved it once we were in there, and we went all around a couple of times. She had so much fun running about, occasionally trying to lose us, and it was beautiful seeing the sun starting to set over the castle as we finished our trip around the maze.

It was then time to head over to the Great Hall for Storytime with Santa. There was a wedding taking place in the Great Hall at the time so we couldn’t see all of it, but the room we were in was decorated beautifully with a big tree, and Ava stole my big camera whilst we waited and took loads of photos, and instructed me exactly where to stand!

We were then shown through to the room where the big man was waiting with cushions on the floor for children to settle down on. Ava was very excited to see Santa, and he was a very good one with a great, genuine beard. He spoke to the kids really well with lots of expression and I think Ava enjoyed it. Storytime with Santa lasted just about the right amount of time, and then you could have your children’s picture taken with Santa. I decided to buy a picture of Ava with Santa for £10 for a nice souvenir. I was pleased that you could buy single photos, because you usually have to buy an expensive package at a lot of the attractions.

It was dark by that time and we were so cold and so tired, so we decided to stroll back down the winding paths in the dark back to the car park.

With our Premium Annual Passes we could park for free in one particular car park, but it was a bit of a walk from the grounds. It wasn’t the twenty minutes that lots of people seem to say in the reviews though, I’d say it was around ten even with a child with little legs.

We had a lovely few hours at Warwick Castle, and I’m really looking forward to visiting again next year, and seeing a bit more of it and seeing the lovely grounds in the summer months. You can find out from Candyfloss and Dreams what it’s like to go glamping at Warwick Castle. I’d love to do that one day!

I am a Merlin Ambassador, but all words and opinions are my own.