This weekend father Christmas and his elves have pulled out all the stops to create ‘Winterville’ at Clapham Common.
This year is a first for the festive event, hosting a huge array of activities like its bigger equivalent Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park.
Winterville is open all week from mid-morning until 10pm and although it’s smaller than Winter Wonderland, it features a number of never-seen-before attractions to get you in the spirit this Christmas.
We took a trip there ourselves to see what all the fuss was about and it did not disappoint.
The experience
First stop on the grand Winterville tour was the mulled wine tent. At £3.50, prices weren’t cheap but it definitely hit the spot with a perfect blend of aromatic spices and deep berry notes to warm up our insides.
We then headed to the Ferris wheel for some classic fairground fun. Lit with garishly bright lights the wheel was the first thing we saw upon arrival and therefore had to give it a go.
The experience was fairly standard as far as Ferris wheel’s go; slow but romantic and we got a great view of the Clapham area from above.
Was it worth the £3 ticket? Probably not. Did we expect to pay that? Yes, it’s a Christmas fair – We only do it once a year.
After speaking to one of our fellow bar ‘queuees’, our lack of guilt over spending so much on so little suddenly became apparent.
“I think it’s ridiculous that places like this can be advertised as ‘family friendly’ when it’s impossible to afford for the average family. If my four children want to go on a ride, be fed and watered, I have to expect it to cost at least £50 and that’s before they spot the flashing fairy wands on the way out!”
Despite having been made aware of the extortionate over-pricing, we couldn’t avoid the eat-street, boasting an obscene amount of hearty Christmas grub and drinks.
We settled for the classic bratwurst with grilled onions and a pint of beer served in a plastic tumbler. The sausages were greasy, the onions sweet, bun fluffy… it delivered exactly what we came for and it was the perfect way to round off an evening of energy-burning excitement.
Not to mention the fact that we’d been shivering all evening; that burns calories right?
To sum up the experience on the whole, Winterville is definitely epitomising all things Christmas, not to mention the abundance of festive hits blaring from various speakers around the venue.
In comparison to Winter Wonderland, it came very close in the rankings. We loved the fact that there wasn’t a mile-long queue just to enter and once we were in it was easy and quick to get food and drinks because of the smaller crowd.
What the locals think
The locals didn’t seem to mind it being there either, 62-year-old Darcy said “I really like the pretty lights and festive smells that Winterville oozes. It closes early too so I still get a good nights’ sleep, the only issue I have with it is that my usual dog walk is now obstructed by the temporary ice rink!”.
We also liked they day-into night feel that Darcy mentioned, earlier closing times meant we made a real afternoon of it and didn’t feel like it was a really late night either (definitely possible to go on school nights!).
Next time we’d definitely need to pre-plan though, if you pre-book you can take part in ‘yoga on ice’ or watch your favourite Christmas film in the outdoor cinema they’ve created.
The verdict: definitely go, preferably after payday, dress up warm but don’t miss out on Winter Wonderland because of it – they’re both must visit attractions.
