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Dear Mummy, it seems strange to think about Christmas in the middle of October, however a damp weekend recently led us to Haskins Garden Centre.
We were invited down to the West End store in Southampton to check out their new Christmas shop and enjoy an Afternoon Tea. We had a brilliant time browsing and getting festive.
In fact we enjoyed our shopping trip so much that we vlogged it (see our video below). What started off as a quick pop out to the shops finished with us being in store for nearly 3 hours!
Each section in their Christmas shop is colour coordinated and themed with whites and pinks, golds and reds and it’s lovely browsing the decorations and novelty Christmas items.
My mummy loved the little winter wonderland sections with fake snow and characters lit up. It was also nice to see a lot of the decorations in action in the miniature village.
Next to the cafe there is a food court area selling unusual food gifts, the sort of items that you would find in a farm shop or high-end shop. Quirky and unusual gifts from sprout mints to amoretto biscuits and locally sourced confectionery.
There is so much to look at from the Christmas shop with all the twinkly lights, decorations and rotating Christmas trees, gift and homeware sections and quirky food court. We could have spent much longer scoping out the store.
After shopping we put our feet up and enjoyed the Afternoon Tea at Haskins and was pleasantly surprised by the spread. We enjoyed a tiered cake stand full of tasty treats with all the usual suspects like finger sandwiches, scones with fresh clotted cream and jam and the most mouth-watering selection of desserts and cakes. Of course I wanted to start at the top and work my way down!
We were ladies that lunched and it was lovely to spend some mother and daughter time together as we chatted with raised pinky fingers while swigging milk and tea.
Afterwards we continued our forage into the shop looking for a birthday present for our cat and came across some amusing gifts in the Haskins pet section from an animal advent calendars to prosecco for pets, yes. Really!
A little lighter in the pocket, but enjoying the whole Christmas shopping experience at a leisurely pace we left the store happy and chilled, which is a feat in itself when you are shopping with a five-year old!
If you fancy a shopping experience that is family friendly, exciting for the kids and offers you a place to rest afterwards all under one roof then we’d definitely recommend Haskins. Plus the car park was easily accessible, handy when you are carrying multiple bags and children!
Love Bella and her happy mummy!
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post with Haskins and all thoughts and pictures are our own.
