Santa opens at Festival Place on Sunday 1 November, £8 a child with a present, and the grotto has moved. Milestones, with a Dickens show, is £35.25 a child.

Santa arrives in Basingstoke on Sunday 1 November, when his grotto opens at Festival Place at £8 a child, present included. It has moved this year, to the ground floor in front of Santander. Milestones Museum follows from late November with a dearer visit that now comes with a walk-through Dickens show, and Hatch Warren’s community Santa sits inside its £1 Christmas market on 22 November.

The quick answer

  • Festival Place: from Sunday 1 November to Christmas Eve, £8 a child, including a present and a wishing coin. Book at bookfatherchristmas.co.uk/festivalplace. A quiet hour runs first thing every Sunday (Festival Place).
  • Milestones Museum: Saturday 28 November to Wednesday 23 December. Child 5 to 15 £35.25, under 5 £18, adult £31, including A Christmas Carol Experience on most dates and a year’s return visits (Milestones Museum).
  • Hatch Warren Christmas Market, Sunday 22 November: Santa is there, booking required, and the community association says Santa bookings open in October (Hatch Warren and Beggarwood Community Association).

Which grotto, at a glance

Festival Place Milestones Museum Hatch Warren
Dates 1 Nov to 24 Dec 28 Nov to 23 Dec Sun 22 Nov only
Child £8 with present £35.25 (5 to 15), £18 (under 5), with gift Not yet published
Adult Free £31 Market entry £1
Also includes Wishing coin A Christmas Carol Experience, 12 months’ museum entry The Christmas market
Booking Recommended Timed 10-minute slots Required, opens October

Festival Place

Festival Place’s grotto opens on Sunday 1 November at £8 per child, including a Christmas present and a wishing coin. Children meet Santa and make a festive wish. The centre recommends booking because spaces are limited, and runs a quiet hour first thing every Sunday morning for families who need a calmer visit (Festival Place).

The booking site, run by the grotto operator Great Grottos, adds the detail that matters on the day: the grotto has relocated this year to the ground floor, on the mall, in front of Santander. Up to four children go on one booking; more than four needs a second booking. Tickets are non-refundable, though you can move to another slot before your visit if there is space (Book Father Christmas: Festival Place). On the booking calendar as we checked it, November dates are offered at weekends, then every day from Friday 27 November to Thursday 24 December.

Milestones Museum

Milestones’ Meet Father Christmas runs from Saturday 28 November to Wednesday 23 December, from 10.30am, in a grotto inside the museum’s Victorian streets. Each visit is a personalised ten minutes with Father Christmas and his elf, and every ticketed child gets a gift (Milestones Museum).

New for 2026, the ticket also includes A Christmas Carol Experience, the museum’s walk-through Dickens production, on most dates. That is why the price is a step up from a shopping centre grotto:

  • Child 5 to 15, with gift: £35.25
  • Child under 5, with gift: £18
  • Adult: £31
  • Annual ticket holders: adult £6.50, child £18 with gift

Every full-price ticket includes free return visits to Milestones for 12 months. Each booking needs at least one adult and one child, up to six people a slot; for bigger groups, email the museum before booking.

On 5 and 6 December, the Christmas Market weekend, the Dickens show does not run. Father Christmas tickets those days include the market instead and cost less: adult £6.50, child £18. Our Christmas markets page has the market itself.

One inconsistency on the museum’s own page: the headline dates say 28 November, but its FAQ says visits are available “from 25th November onwards”. A Christmas Carol Experience on its own starts on 25 November. Go by the dates the booking system offers.

Hatch Warren

Hatch Warren and Beggarwood Community Association’s Christmas Market on Sunday 22 November, 12pm to 4pm at Hatch Warren Community Centre, Long Cross Lane, RG22 4XF, includes “the chance to meet Santa Claus (booking required)”. Its page says “Bookings for Santa Claus open in October”, with no price yet (Hatch Warren and Beggarwood Community Association). Market entry is £1. Call 01256 811262 or email office@hatchwarren.org.

Father Christmas on tour: Tadley and the Loddon Valley

Loddon Valley Lions take Father Christmas round the streets of Tadley and the villages on the Hampshire and Berkshire border each December. The club says the tours usually run from about 1 December to 23 December, not on Sundays, moving off at 6pm Monday to Thursday, 5.30pm on Fridays and 4.15pm on Saturdays, with Father Christmas at each starting point for about 15 minutes beforehand (Loddon Valley Lions). The route calendar on its site is still last year’s, December 2025, so the 2026 rounds are not out yet (tour calendar).

Still to come

The Malls and The Vyne have not published a Santa for 2026. The Vyne’s Christmas, from 21 November, is a house display and a garden trail: see Christmas at The Vyne. We will add any new grotto as organisers publish it.

Getting there

Festival Place is in the town centre, a few minutes’ walk from the station; car parks and tariffs are on our parking in Basingstoke page. Milestones is on the Leisure Park off Churchill Way West, with Planet Ice. On Friday 20 November, six Top of the Town streets close from 8am to midnight for the Christmas lights night, so check roadworks and travel and our Christmas lights switch-on page if you are visiting that day. More dates are on What’s On in Basingstoke this month.

Sources

All checked on 3 October 2026.