The Christmas Circus at Squire's Washington 2014

This Christmas, we were invited to attend the preview event Christmas Circus at Squire's Washington - a Christmas circus performance along with the chance to see Father Christmas. The Circus show takes place in a circus tent next to the garden centre. There is a vague plot to the circus show, with a story about some presents being stolen from under the tree and a search for Santa, which was used to tie the different acts together. The clown was very good, and the children thought that he was hilarious, especially when he pulled a poor Dad up from the audience and swung a watering can about. We also saw some exciting circus acts, including a trapeze and super hula hooping.

At the end of course Santa is found, and he ushers everyone to an area behind the seating where the circus performers were handing out presents. It was all done very quickly so fortunately there wasn't too much waiting around, but it did mean that you didn't really get the chance to meet with Santa individually as there were a lot of people and stopping for a photo would cause a hold up. The children were delighted with their presents, the gifts handed out seemed to be ones that would suit young children of most ages and it seemed as though despite working quickly the assistants were trying to match a suitable gift to the child.

The circus show itself lasts for about 40 minutes, so it's a decent length show but not too long for very little ones. The whole experience lasts for about an hour.

We received complimentary admission to the preview event.