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.
dearmummyblog.com 
This just looks like a great day out – and the perfect place to get into the Christmas spirit! Such fun 🙂 Hope you enjoyed!
Oh wow that is super early although I do love Christmas. This sounds like a great place to visit with children as they will have fun whilst us adults do a bit of shopping for festive goodies.
Ahhh that looks so cute! I love christmas so much, this is right up my street!!
Oh wow! I do love christmas! I’m loving seeing the christmas posts that are cropping up all over the internet! #AnythingGoes
Wow, they’re really into the festive spirit already! Looks like so much fun!
This sounds like a great place to visit and cute too. Hope you enjoyed.
Aww what a lovely magical experience, I really like all the lights he’s get you in a festive mood X #anythinggoes
This has got me super excited for Christmas with all those lovely sparkly lights. The Afternoon Tea at Haskins looks yummy xx
This looks like it was loads of fun and now I’m feeling bit too festive for October. I’m tempted to put my tree up!
I love Christmas and am getting very excited! Places like this are so much fun to visit. Kaz & Ickle Pickle
what a cute place! looks interesting to visit
oh i love that ferris wheel, this post gets me excited for Christmas!!
Never too early to talk Christmas lol! I am loving going into the shops and garden centres and seeing all the Christmas decorations and lights out on display!
Oh gosh, I am so ready for Christmas, how fun does Haskins look. I want my local town to start decorating already.
I feel so Christmassy after reading this! The festive season is really around the corner!
Awwww how fun!! I can’t wait for Christmas! Only god thing about the cold weather here in NY!
Wow It’s already that time of the year, isn’t it! Love this season of the year and can’t wait to celebrate with friends and family.
Oh what a fabulous post. You’ve got me feeling so excited for Christmas time! xxx
Oh your post has got me feeling so excited for Christmas time! xxx
CHRISTMAS!!! My favorite time of the year!!! I wish I could just spend all my money on Christmas decorations!!!!
It looks really magical in store – I love their variety and the fact it’s colour-coordinated in store. I’m not surprised Bella was drawn to the Xmas lights – I would be too!. And that afternoon tea….did someone say cake? lol. I hadn’t heard of Haskins before so it’s nice to virtually discover new places…a friend of mine lives in Southampton, so I’ll ask him if he’s been – and get him to take me there next time I visit him! Popping over from #SnappedUp
Your daughter is so adorable! Great photos too. I can’t wait to get my seven kids out to the stores, we are quite a crowd!
I especially love the photo where your daughter is holding the tinsel up next to her hair to make her look like she has sparkly gold hair! Precious!
I don’t really get into the Christmas spirit until December! Bah humbug! However, I must say, this looks a great place to get into the Christmas shopping mood! 🙂
Visited from #SnappedUp
Looks like you had a great day out. I love visiting places like that around Christmas time. And the afternoon tea sounded yummy! #SnappedUp
Looks amazing I love going to Garden Centres for christmas!