Wokingham Santa's Grotto: Dinton Bookings Open Now

Bookings for the Santa’s Grotto at Dinton Pastures are open now, but the borough has not yet published the 2026 dates or the price. Its festive page carries the words “Bookings now open” above a booking link and nothing else in the way of a date (Wokingham Countryside, festive season at Dinton Pastures). The dates and cost only appear once you open the booking widget, which is the single most annoying thing about planning this in September.

What the borough does describe is the shape of the visit, and that has not changed: a Christmas crafting session with cookies and hot chocolate first, then a five-minute visit to Santa, with a small gift included. You only book for children, not for parents, and you are asked to arrive 30 minutes before your Santa slot so the crafting happens first.

What it cost last year

Until the 2026 booking page is readable, last year’s figures are the honest guide. The council published them itself (Wokingham Borough Council, Christmas 2025):

The grotto slots took up to four children, one family per slot, and you took your own photographs rather than buying them. The Christmas tea was a full sitting: tea served at 4pm, fish fingers, sausages or chicken nuggets with chips, a vegetarian option and jelly, then Father Christmas coming round with a gift. The SEN friendly session ran with no music, low noise and reduced numbers.

Two of those, the Christmas teas and the Festive Fair, have not yet appeared on the 2026 calendar at all. Only the grotto is listed as bookable so far, so do not assume the tea is coming back until the council says so.

What is confirmed for 2026

These are on the borough’s own 2026 listings:

• Christmas tree sales at the Dinton Activity Centre, every Saturday and Sunday from 21 November, supplied by Needlefresh, with out of hours collection by arrangement. That is a week earlier than 2025, when sales started on 29 November.
• Barnes Fitness Santa Dash, Sunday 13 December 2026, 10am to 1pm at Dinton Pastures, now in its tenth year. Last year it offered a 2km mini dash and a 5km dash, neither timed, both starting at the duck feeding area by the playground.
• Christmas on the Deck, a night of live festive music, Friday 18 December 2026, 6pm to 9pm at the Coffee Deck. In 2025 the equivalent evening needed no booking.
• A festive trail round the park, which the borough says needs booking, and festive jumper climbing sessions that hand out a 30 per cent discount voucher for your next visit.

The full calendar is at Wokingham Countryside events.

Father Christmas at the Winter Carnival

The other reliable place to see Santa in Wokingham is the Winter Carnival in the town centre on Sunday 29 November 2026. Father Christmas there is hosted by First Days, the local children’s charity, which Wokingham Lions thanked by name in its 2025 write-up (Wokingham.Today, 26 November 2025). He also leads the countdown to the Christmas lights switch-on in the late afternoon.

Be warned that this one goes fast. The 2025 grotto tickets sold out quickly and the location moved between years, from the Elevate Centre in 2023 to First Days’ School Days project in The Courtyard by the Denmark Street car park in 2025, so watch for the announcement rather than heading for last year’s address. Full detail is on our Winter Carnival page.

Squire’s Wokingham

Squire’s Garden Centre on Heathlands Road, RG40 3AS, has run a grotto for years and it is the obvious indoor, town-side option. Nothing is announced for 2026 yet, and Squire’s has no live grotto page on its site at the time of writing.

The most recent grotto announcement still on Squire’s own site is from 2023, and it named four other centres rather than Wokingham, so read it for shape rather than price: Santa appearing on selected days from 25 November to 24 December, 9.30am to 4.30pm on Saturdays and 10.30am to 4.30pm on Sundays, £8 a child including a wrapped gift and a badge, the first two adults free and £1 for each additional adult, £1 from every ticket going to the centre’s Charity of the Year, and tickets bought in store on the day rather than online (Squire’s Garden Centres, 2023). Announcements have typically come in late October or early November.

Wellington Country Park, for the under-fives

Wellington Country Park at Riseley closes its outdoor park for winter and runs an indoor season instead. Winter at Welly Park runs from 9 November to 18 December 2026, aimed at children from 18 months up (Wellington Country Park, what’s on). The park has not published a programme, a price or any confirmation that Father Christmas appears in it, and its own winter subdomain currently redirects straight back to the what’s on list, so there is nothing more to read yet.

Getting there and parking

The Dinton grotto is at the Dinton Activity Centre, Sandford Lane, Hurst, RG10 0SU, which is a different entrance from the main country park on Davis Street, RG10 0TH. Park charges apply as normal unless a ticket says otherwise. For the carnival, every borough car park charges on a Sunday and the free parking that used to be laid on for the day was withdrawn in 2025, which our parking page covers, and the town centre roads are shut, which the roadworks and travel page tracks.

Still to come

• Dinton’s 2026 grotto dates and price, currently visible only inside the booking system. Expect the council’s Christmas round-up in November, as in previous years.
• Whether the Christmas teas with Santa and the Festive Fair return for 2026.
• Squire’s Wokingham grotto dates, prices and this year’s charity, usually announced late October or early November.
• The Winter Carnival grotto’s location and how to get a ticket.

We will update this page as each is published.