Sandringham at Christmas

[JulieT1]

Hi

We've booked Sandringham for Christmas, has anyone been there and managed to see the Queen when she goes to church on Christmas day?

Julie

 

[Soozeeg]

Yes, we have Julie, a couple of times. It's best to get there early, as there will be hordes of people (and you have to queue up in a long line and be body-searched by nice police people before you're allowed near the church!! Actually, it's only a very quick pat-down, nothing dramatic, lol). It's a really good atmosphere, you quickly get chatting to the people around you, some of whom have come miles to see the Royals (the last time we were there we had some Americans beside us who had come to England especially to go to Sandringham on Christmas Day, and who were absolutely over the moon with excitement when the Royals appeared).

The Royals (the entire family.....it was lovely to see the younger ones, especially Prince William) don't hang about on their walk into church (the Queen doesn't walk, she goes by car), so if you want to see more of them you'd be better off going later for when they come out after the service, as they do stop and chat then. (Or just hang about until then, as you may not be able to get near enough if you arrive later!).

But as I said, it will be very busy! (but worth it).

 

[JulieT1]

Hi Soozeeg

Gosh you get up early!!!

Actually this is well past my usual bedtime but we've been sorting Christmas cards for the scouts charity post,I'm ready for some sleep now.....

Thanks for your reply, could you clarify the getting there early bit, what time did you go?

We'd all love to go as we've only seen the Queen once and our lads have never seen her. We've stayed at Sandringham C & CC a few times but only in May or August so it would be a shame to miss them.

Thanks again

Julie

 

[Soozeeg]

Hi Julie......insomnia!! LOL

I think the church service is at 11.00 am, but don't quote me on it (the site wardens will probably know, or the Queen's website if you google it). So it's best to get there half an hour or more even before that, we got there about 10.15 I think. And as I said, you have to queue up for ages first to be searched before they will let you in the church gates.

When are you going? There's usually a Christmas fair on near the Visitor Centre, last time we went (2 years ago) there was an ice rink too!! Great fun (we just watched, lol!!). Both of those closed I think on the 23rd, or it may possibly have been Christmas Eve.

If I can find out any more info I'll let you know.

Regards, Sue

 

[Soozeeg]

Julie, I just googled and found this link: http://www.sandringhamestate.co.uk/EventDetail.asp?Event=32&V=1&S=7

It says there's no ice rink this year, I don't think there's a Christmas fair either (credit crunch!!), but there are horse and carriage rides and a bungee trampoline(!!).

 

[JulieT1]

Hi Sue

10.15am, what a relief, I wondered if you meant very early - before 8am! I think we might be up in time....

We've booked from the 23rd for a week although we haven't finished shopping or packing yet!! Hope the snow goes away before then, it looks like Norfolk has had some on the weather forcast.

Thanks for the link, the carriage rides might be worth looking at but I'll pass on the bungee trampoline

We've never been away at Christmas before, we had a trailer tent for 12yrs so thought we'd try it now we have the van, are we mad?

Best Wishes & thanks for your help.

Julie

 

[Soozeeg]

You're most welcome, have a lovely time. Don't forget to take decorations for the van (and awning if you're using one) - loads of people (including us!!) decorate their vans and it all looks really festive and lovely. It's brilliant walking round the site after dark and seeing all the vans lit up with their sparkly lights, snowmen, reindeer, father christmases, etc. And everyone is so happy and friendly (probably drunk!!!! tee hee). You'll have a wonderful time, you and the kids will love it, and your van will be all snug and warm, so no, you're not mad at all!

We're off down to Somerset for Xmas this year, decided to have a change from Sandringham!

 

[JulieT1]

Hi Sue

Got the lights for inside and out and a small tree, beer, turkey etc. Just keep watching the weather and crossing my fingers that we're not knee deep in snow - only had a light sprinkling of sleet so far in Derby but Sandringham was snowy on the news yesterday.

Have a lovely time in Somerset,

Merry Christmas

Julie

 

[Soozeeg]

Thank you Julie, same to you.

I think there's probably more chance of snow in Norfolk than there is in Somerset!

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

Hello Julie,

The snow was about 5 inches deep yesterday afternoon, and we've had another little dusting overnight. We're about 27 miles from Sandringham, and I've heard that the snow has been worse towards Kings Lynn/Lincolnshire, so I don't know what it's like there!

The gritters have been working really hard, and the roads main roads are all fairly clear. According to the weather forecast, it looks to remain very cold, so I don't expect the laying snow will thaw very quickly, saying that, it doesn't look as if we are expecting much more snow either.

Hope it will be OK for next Sunday, as we are off down to Suffolk/Essex borders for the New Year, and I shall be gutted if we can't go!! :O(

 

[Soozeeg]

Hello Julie,

The snow was about 5 inches deep yesterday afternoon, and we've had another little dusting overnight. We're about 27 miles from Sandringham, and I've heard that the snow has been worse towards Kings Lynn/Lincolnshire, so I don't know what it's like there!

The gritters have been working really hard, and the roads main roads are all fairly clear. According to the weather forecast, it looks to remain very cold, so I don't expect the laying snow will thaw very quickly, saying that, it doesn't look as if we are expecting much more snow either.

Hope it will be OK for next Sunday, as we are off down to Suffolk/Essex borders for the New Year, and I shall be gutted if we can't go!! :O(

Morning Wendy ;-)

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

Hello Julie,

The snow was about 5 inches deep yesterday afternoon, and we've had another little dusting overnight. We're about 27 miles from Sandringham, and I've heard that the snow has been worse towards Kings Lynn/Lincolnshire, so I don't know what it's like there!

The gritters have been working really hard, and the roads main roads are all fairly clear. According to the weather forecast, it looks to remain very cold, so I don't expect the laying snow will thaw very quickly, saying that, it doesn't look as if we are expecting much more snow either.

Hope it will be OK for next Sunday, as we are off down to Suffolk/Essex borders for the New Year, and I shall be gutted if we can't go!! :O(

Morning Sue :O)

 

[JulieT1]

Hello Wendy

Thanks for the weather info, so long as the main roads are ok we should be alright....assuming we can get out of our road. It's still got a light layer of snow but it's freezing overnight and quite slippery. Oh well a few more days to go, hopefully it will clear by then.

I bet it looks quite pretty at Sandringham!

Hope you can get away at new Year

best wishes

Julie

 

[JulieT1]

Soozeeg & Wendy

Just thought I'd let you know that we made it to Sandringham at Christmas although many others had cancelled (mainly because they couldn't get their vans out of storage). It was lovely despite the snow,ice and freezing weather, we even got up in time to walk up to see the Queen at church....

Did you both manage to get away?

Best wishes

Julie

 

[Soozeeg]

Hi Julie

Glad you had a good time at Sandringham, and managed to get to the church (quite an experience, isn't it?).

Yep, we went to The Old Oaks, Somerset, and had a fabulous time - no snow, although very sharp frosts and icy, but sunny virtually all day every day.

Sue

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I saw on the news that they banned cameras at Sandringham which seemed a bit OTT :O(

 

[Soozeeg]

Must be a new thing, we took photos of the Royals going to church on Xmas day the last time we were there, as did everyone else.

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

Hi Julie,

Because the weather was so bad, and our 'van was buried in the snow, I actually cancelled our New Year outing on the Monday before Christmas. However, as the weather improved over the week, we thought what the hell, and ended up at Sandringham ourselves, that was from the 27th until 3rd Jan! :O)

Apart from the road around the site being extremely icy (we actually slid onto our pitch and with 4 1/2 tons of car and 'van it was a bit scary Lol) it was great - had a lovely time! :O)

 

[Soozeeg]

Hi Julie,

Because the weather was so bad, and our 'van was buried in the snow, I actually cancelled our New Year outing on the Monday before Christmas. However, as the weather improved over the week, we thought what the hell, and ended up at Sandringham ourselves, that was from the 27th until 3rd Jan! :O)

Apart from the road around the site being extremely icy (we actually slid onto our pitch and with 4 1/2 tons of car and 'van it was a bit scary Lol) it was great - had a lovely time! :O)

Oooh Wendy, you sneaky thing!! I'm not really jealous though, coz we had such a fab time at The Old Oaks. Perhaps we'll see you back at Sandringham next Christmas.....!!

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

Hi Julie,

Because the weather was so bad, and our 'van was buried in the snow, I actually cancelled our New Year outing on the Monday before Christmas. However, as the weather improved over the week, we thought what the hell, and ended up at Sandringham ourselves, that was from the 27th until 3rd Jan! :O)

Apart from the road around the site being extremely icy (we actually slid onto our pitch and with 4 1/2 tons of car and 'van it was a bit scary Lol) it was great - had a lovely time! :O)

For sure Sue, next year it'll be Christmas and New Year - looking forward to it already!! (Sad I know LOL!!) :O)

 

[JulieT1]

Glad you made it to Somerset and had a great time Sue.

Wendy, I'm pleased you got away and managed to get a pitch at Sandringham. Someone near us had been trying to get a few extra days and it was showing fully booked. We might have passed each other as we didn't leave until just after 12 on the 27th, we skidded of the pitch as the road was still frozen in the middle.

The top half of the site had to be closed while we were there but there were some empty pitches on the other 2 sections. The wardens were helping lots of folks by towing their vans on/off.

We were allowed to take photos of the Royals, someone in the queue asked one of the officers who said it was fine. LB, I think there was an incident with a junior pc confiscating cameras from the public at one of the sunday services, but his boss apologised and said it was a mistake made during his absence....I'd be well cheesed off if I'd stood out in the freezing cold and then missed the opportunity of a piccy due to a mistake!

All in all it was worth going and seemed much more relaxing than being at home, Sandringham is a great place to spend Christmas and chill. Would do it again...family visits etc permitting