Duke of York Square is brilliant

My son went last weekend to the Grotto at Gambado Chelsea and it was great, he's still talking about his visit with the big guy.
this is from the facebook post on their site


Santa's Grotto is now open at Gambado Chelsea!
Join our lovely Elves and make some magical reindeer food,make a card for Santa and then meet Santa himself.
Receive a lovely gift from Santa plus you will get a bauble with your child's photo professionally taken on the day to treasure this Christmas forever
Please use this link to book http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/gambado-c ... 7510267427

http://www.littleforestfolk.squarespace.com

At Little Forest Folk we have created a magical grotto where the crass commercialisation you often get with Christmas is taken away and you are left with the pure magic of Christmas. Rather than a 5 min whisk in front of Santa then off again, we are offering a 45-60 minute experience where we will make lovely Christmas crafts from natural materials before taking the small groups of children in to have a story, chat, photo and of course gift from Santa!

Most morning sessions are now full but spaces available in afternoons so come along and visit us!

Thank you so much for all the suggestions!

The best kept grotto secret is in Elys of Wimbledon, on the second floor. They have a nice grotto room set aside with the most fantastic scenery and props: a large central tree with a door and windows, a toddler sized moving elf, mechanical fishing frogs, mushroom houses, etc, not to mention the big guy himself on a throne wide enough for two. A real sylvan woodland setting! You can bring your phone or camera and take your own pictures. The best thing about it is that not many people know about it at this point so there is rarely a queue. Cost: £5 which includes a nice gift.

Not a London suggestion, but near Winchester (Aresford or the other station you can get on is Alton) there is an old steam railway line called the Watercress line. It's an hours round trip where Father Christmas comes to see the children in their seat and they get a present.
http://www.watercressline.co.uk/product ... ta-special
Wine and mince pies included for the adults!

Forgot to include website! www.greenethicalchristmas.com

Father Christmas will be visiting our Green & Ethical Christmas Fayre at Holy Trinity on Clapham Common (big church next to the paddling pool) on Sat 6th December. There's no need to book, his grotto is up in the bell tower accessed from high up in the gallery so quite exciting I think. Children get a wooden or environmentally friendly gift and you get a personalised email with your photo after the Fayre. All for only £2.50! Adults pay entry to the Fayre (£2) but children are free and a visit to our city farm nativity - lots of animals to pet plus dress up in a seasonal costume and get mummy or daddy to take your pic - is included in Fayre entrance. What more could you ask for? Well, all profits are shared between improving the energy efficiency of this beautiful building and the homeless charity Emmaus.

Kew Gardens or Battersea Park are lovely if you can brave the elements a little, quieter because of that. Harrods is great but gets very booked up.

Bellevue Road Christmas Fair on November 30th has a fantastic Father Christmas ( I know him well - we share the same hairdresser! )

He has his grotto outside Tickled Pink on Bellevue - he's a bit unconventional having swapped Rudolph for a mechanical reindeer (he tells me the traffic around Trinity road is terrible!)

Ever been to Crockford Bridge Farm?
For £10 you get winter story telling in the woods and a visit to Santa's Grotto in the secret forest, and by forest I mean REAL, with a hut in the woods
And a gift per child.
There's a Garden Centre with a lovely coffee shop and small soft play area if the weather is not that great otherwise enjoy your morning or afternoon with a coffee/chocolate while watching the kids play in the play area.
Worth the visit!
They even sell Christmas trees that you can dig out yourself!
We've been there a couple of times for the Halloween event and truly, cannot recommend enough!

duke of york square
http://www.dukeofyorksquare.com/news/santas-grotto-2/

Apparently the grotto at Chessington garden centre is lovely. As far as I can see they still have weekend availability in November and the first weekend in December.

https://events.chessingtongardencentre.co.uk/

Good luck!

London Zoo is doing it too x