Nutley Farm Christmas experience for Dorset air ambulance

Nutley Farm has been helping raise money for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance for the past four years by putting on a Christmas light and Reindeer experience - and I decided to go see what all the fuss was about.

Upon arriving at the farm, you could feel the festive spirit was in full swing already as the buzz of children enjoying themselves and the glow of the lights got me excited before even leaving the car park.

As I approached the entrance to the farm on foot, my first thought was to head to the festive barn where I picked up a cup of coffee to take in my surroundings.

The chatter of families mixed with Christmas songs being played through speakers definitely put me in the Christmas mood.

“It’s a great festive evening to come and enjoy meeting reindeer and see some Christmas lights,” explained Julian Hubbock who runs the event at the farm near Dorchester.

“To see the faces and smiles on the children is great.”

Once the coffee was drunk, and a quick chat with Julian, it was time to set off and go see the reindeer.

Rudolph, Prancer, Sprout and Parsnip greeted me and volunteers from the air ambulance were on hand to take donations and provide lichen to feed the reindeer.

I got the opportunity to pet a reindeer and must admit it was a first for me having never seen one this close before.

“The reindeer are by far the stars of the show. They live here all year round and they're so friendly," said Julian

“They love meeting people, and a bit over friendly sometimes. They jump up on the on the bars and say hello and give a kiss - that sort of thing.”

Next up, it was time to embark on the Christmas light trail which included an elf hunt.

After passing through a tunnel adorned with fairy lights the trail took me on a journey that included a few interactive buttons that changed the colours of the lights.

The impressive nature of the giant reindeer covered in white fairy lights was a sight to behold and there was even a projection of Santa Claus on one of the out buildings.

I didn’t want to think about the electricity bill the farm would incur after Julian told me that there was about three miles of fairy lights across the site and the event could cost up to £80,000.

As I walked round taking in all the different exhibits, I couldn’t help but smile as I heard children counting the elves they could see hidden along the trail – some I must admit quite hard to find.

The trail came to an end with a small group of pigs that were as adorable as the reindeer, before a final light tunnel where families were posing for pictures.

After exiting the trail, it was off to toast marshmallows provided by a small catering truck to the side of the main bar where an elf helper was making sure to keep the fire burning.

Julian then told me how the event got off the ground and the inspiration for donating the proceeds to charity.

 “I had the idea in the first year of COVID when there was nothing happening, and we decided to get some reindeer to live on the farm,” he said.

“It went really well and people said, could we do it again.

“And then yeah, here we are,  in our fourth year, and we've really developed it, we've done an enormous amount of work in to make it festive.”

He hopes to raise £12,000 for the air ambulance charity this year and has already donated £28,000 in the first three years of the event – a charity that is very close to his heart.

His mother’s life was saved by the charity which relies on the donations and funding to perform its role in providing critical and emergency care.

“They saved my mum's life in a horse and carriage accident,” he explained.

“So, we thought we would give some money back to the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and see if we could raise some money as a thank you.”

The event is running right up until December 31 so if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, don’t worry there is still a chance.