The Elf Express celebrates 10th year at Quex Adventure Farm Park in Birchington with new activities, including reindeer feeding and goat walking
A festive experience that now attracts more than 30,000 visitors is celebrating a decade in the making.
The Elf Express started in 2015, drawing in small crowds of around 400 people from the local community, and has grown over the last 10 years to become one of the county’s best-loved Christmas events.
Graham Stroud, managing director of Quex Adventure Farm Park in Birchington-on-Sea, was inspired to come up with the idea thanks to his childhood love of tractors.
The event began as a tractor and trailer ride around the farm with festive decorations and a chance to meet Father Christmas.
Now, the experience boasts outdoor woodland trails, light projections, interactive performances, a German-style BBQ, firepits for toasting marshmallows, hot chocolates and boozy winter warmers, and children’s craft workshops.
This year, the new reindeer area is making its debut, giving visitors a chance to meet and feed real-life reindeer in their enclosure.
The handlers will be nearby to tell guests all about Santa’s four-legged helpers and share fascinating facts about how to look after them.
Animal lovers can also book a slot on the Christmas goat walk, led by a staff member from the farm.
You will get a chance to walk one of the Anglo-Nubian goats around the park, watch over them as they eat the surrounding vegetation and learn more about the animals.
The ice skating rink also returns after a successful debut last year where almost 20,000 skaters took to the ice.
This year, the rink will be bigger and there will be themed evenings with music, from ‘80s club classics to Abba hits, on select dates.
“Every year we look to improve and build on the previous year’s success and incorporate customer feedback,” says Graham. “This year we have several exciting new initiatives including a free Christmas light show every evening of the Elf Express to marvel at the thousands of lights, projections and lasers, with donations going to a local charity.”
The Elf Express is open from Saturday, November 30 to Christmas Eve at Quex Adventure Farm Park in Birchington-on-Sea. You can book tickets here.
Parents can also choose to include a personalised invitation from Santa to visit his workshop with their ticket.
Some activities, such as the reindeer feed, goat walk and ice skating, will need to be booked in addition to a standard entry ticket.
