The time the North Pole came to Wales...

Now, I wasnt going to post this post, but what with the Christmas period almost over, I thought to myself; "its basically now or never!!".... plus it gives me a chance to try out a few new communities, specifically the @pinmapple community.

So, as the name of this post suggests, Santa really did visit us here in Wales, and more specifically, he set up his HQ in an ex-coal mine, deep underground, in a small Welsh cwm(aka a valley for you english speaking folk). Based at the Rhondda Heritage Park, in the small ex-mining town of Pontypridd, every year, the council run national heritage park, is converted to a winter wonderland, where for an astronomical fee a small price, you can go down the old pit-head down the shaft, walk along the old tram lines and visit Santa.

Before the tour starts, toure free to walk around the above ground attractions. The main reception and entrance is based in the old mine offices which have been completely refurbished with some lovely sculptures, artwork and mosaics honoring the history of the coal mining industry, the prosperity and tragedies it brought to the valleys.

The place is decked in tinsel, Christmas trees and ornaments, enough to get the kids imaginations working overtime and psyching them up for thier visit to see the "big man" himself.

With the kids suitability wound up and our tour time approaching, we made our way to the meeting point and waited for a tour guide to show up. Afger shouting at the kids - "not to touch" , " put it down" and "to leave it alone" more times thanni care to count, our guid arrived and we made our way outside, heading through the christmassy courtyard, hoping to make it to the entrance of the mine without losing a child or two along the route.

After a short walk through the rain, dont be fooled by the photos its not snowing...., we made it to the entrance of the mine shaft. We followed a few narrow corridors, lined with lights and christmas paraphernalia before making it to the lift that took us underground.

Crammed in like sardines, those old mine shafts are awfully small, we made our way underground and to the start of the toy mine adventure tour...

I dont know if I should spoil it, and give away the secret to deep underground toy mine tours, but lets just say for health and safety reasons we really didnt go into the old mine shaft, but we did go down in a cage, but definitely not as deep as the kids(and some adults) thought..... ohhh the trickery!!

Being in an old mine means only one way to go, forward! So we stuck to the path, following the tour guild, who was a lovely young man, that entertained the kids, told jokes, some for the kids and some for the adults(😉), playing his part well and got everyone singing and dancing along, keeping us all in the christmas spirit.

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The mine is amazing, every effort has been put into making it a childs dream Christmas adventure. Theres even an indoor snow machine which the kids loved.

Before we knew where we were we were faced by two large wooden doors..... This was it!! Behind these doors is where Santa was waiting! By now the kids and adults were bouncing with anticipation. Would we really get to see Santa?

What a magical experience. If you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods, I cant recommend highly enough taking some time out to visit santa down the toy mine.