Review: Newbury Christmas Carnival a unique spectacle - but expensive

Obviously, it's not at all on the same scale as the annual Hyde Park festive attraction, but the Great Christmas Carnival is the biggest event of its kind in the South and features plenty for families to do - providing they have deep pockets that is. 

It's only £5 to get into the Carnival where you can soak up the Christmas atmosphere, and see Santa Claus fly overhead in his magical sleigh, which in itself is quite a unique spectacle and worth the price of entry alone.

Santa flying over people's heads (Image: Underbelly)

But outside of that, there are market stalls and food vendors to peruse, which could involve spending money if you see something you like, there are funfair rides and carnival games to go on and take part in for a price and there are additional extras that you can add on. 

While all these extra things, like the Christmas Tree Maze, the Circus, meeting Santa in his grotto, and ice skating are all relatively low in cost as individual things and worth the money, the total cost of doing everything and truly making the most of what's on offer will quickly add up. 

With the economic climate as it is, there will definitely be families who will struggle to justify the extra £5 for the maze, £12.50 for the circus, £8 for ice skating, and £6 to meet Santa, even with free parking and a free hot chocolate on entry.

Ice skating at Newbury's Great Christmas Carnival (Image: Newsquest)

But for those that do have the means though, and realistically it could be argued that people should expect to have some expendable cash when going to an event like this, the Christmas Carnival is a really fun day out that cannot fail to get everyone in the Christmas mood and blow the minds of young children with its flying Santa sleigh set-piece.

I personally found the tree maze fun I also really enjoyed riding the big wheel and eating my cranberry and thyme mac and cheese. But the highlight was winning a giant Rubik's Cube from a shooting carnival game after hitting seven targets with seven shots. 

That's the beauty of things like this, everyone can pick and choose what they do or don't want to do, and everyone will have their own unique time. 

The view from the Big Wheel of the carnival site (Image: Newsquest)