Disclosure: We were provided with tickets to meet Santa and lunch in the Off-Piste experience at Alexander's for the purpose of this review. We paid for extra drinks ourselves.
We were invited to Alexander's in Skipton to meet Father Christmas on a Sunday morning. The experience must be booked in advance and are each Sunday from 9am to 12pm, They offer a one hour slot with a craft activity upstairs first. We really enjoyed this, there were plenty of supplies for each child and the instructions were clear.
Once we were finished, we headed down to meet Santa himself in the heated Alpine ski lodge, tucked away in the secret garden at Alexander's. Santa read a story from his book and then gave each child a gift. I thought that Santa might need to work on his banter a little. I was unimpressed that he kept impressing on the children that he was on a diet, asking them to leave out carrots for him "because carrots are zero points". He also said of Mrs Claus' appearance that she'd had "had some work done" which I found offensive. Thankfully all of this went over the children's heads, but I would hope it didn't happen again. Both children really enjoyed their presents and the experience of meeting Santa. To find out more about the Santa Sundays, click here.
Frankfurter sausages and sauerkraut were next, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of these because my son devoured them very quickly! The alpine stew with tartiflette was delicious, the potatoes were creamy and cheesy and the meat in the stew melted in your mouth. I was beginning to get a little full by this point, which I regretted as I would have loved to eat more of it! For us, the final main course was tarte flambee (alpine pizza) which again my son was very partial too. I really enjoyed that we watched the chef cook this in front of us. He made it look incredibly simple!
We were invited to Alexander's in Skipton to meet Father Christmas on a Sunday morning. The experience must be booked in advance and are each Sunday from 9am to 12pm, They offer a one hour slot with a craft activity upstairs first. We really enjoyed this, there were plenty of supplies for each child and the instructions were clear.
Mulled cider, mulled wine and warm apple juice was waiting for us on the terrace whilst we waited for the ski lodge to be cleared for our Off-Piste experience. I was really impressed with the attention to detail, the trees and also the mountain mural on the wall made us feel like we were actually up on the ski slopes.
Then it was on to the Off-Piste experience. We have visited before and absolutely loved it, so I was excited to try it again and this time with all the family. There seems to be a never-ending supply of food, all brought out at a gentle pace. In reality, there are six different courses (including dessert), but this is spread out over around two hours. The meal starts with warm chestnuts and a winter broth. Chestnuts are so delicious, and lots of fun for us all to try to get into. They definitely make you work to eat them! The next dish was smoked and cured fish with pickles and chutney. I wasn't brave enough to eat the fish which still had the skin on, but my husband said it was delicious. The chutney was one of the best I have ever tasted, especially when you dipped pickles into it! Each platter was beautifully presented and you never felt rushed with the meal at all.
Frankfurter sausages and sauerkraut were next, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of these because my son devoured them very quickly! The alpine stew with tartiflette was delicious, the potatoes were creamy and cheesy and the meat in the stew melted in your mouth. I was beginning to get a little full by this point, which I regretted as I would have loved to eat more of it! For us, the final main course was tarte flambee (alpine pizza) which again my son was very partial too. I really enjoyed that we watched the chef cook this in front of us. He made it look incredibly simple!
I was very impressed with the Alexander's app Enchanterwood which made the children's drawings come to life. Once they had their characters, they could play an interactive game. This was offered to our children as the Off-Piste experience is quite long and children do start to get a little restless after a while. I have to admit this was a big hit with both of our children and a great idea for keeping them entertained whilst still being creative.
Finally we moved on to dessert and although none of us had much room left in our bellies, we managed to squeeze the chocolate fondue in! Honestly this is one of the most delicious puddings I have ever had and a huge hit with the whole family. I love that there is a decent smattering of fruit amongst the marshmallows and honeycomb. We had an amazing afternoon of indulgence. It was wonderful to share the experience with the whole family. We headed home to relax for the evening, knowing we wouldn't need to eat again for quite some time because we were all so full! For more information on Off-Piste at Alexander's, check out their website. The price is £40 per adult and £20 per child. The price includes a mulled wine or mulled cider and all six courses. You can also get winter Pimms for your party!
If you would like a discount at Alexander's, readers of my blog can quote ‘helpfulmum10’ for a 10% discount on dining experiences throughout January, February and March.
If you would like a discount at Alexander's, readers of my blog can quote ‘helpfulmum10’ for a 10% discount on dining experiences throughout January, February and March.
