The Gruffalo's Child at Saltram 2025

Illustration of Julia Donalsons The Gruffalo's Child. Wintry snowy forest scene with Gruffalos child carrying a stick man. — Experience the magic of the Gruffalo's Child story within Saltram garden this Christmas | © Julia Donalson & Axel Scheffler, Licensed by Magic Light Pictures Ltd

Join us this Christmas at Saltram and experience the magic of the beloved Gruffalo’s Child story brought to life within Saltram’s garden.

The Gruffalo’s Child Trail at Saltram

Join us this Christmas at Saltram and experience the magic of the beloved Gruffalo’s Child story brought to life within Saltram’s garden. Whose is this track, and where does it go?! Step into the world of the Gruffalo’s Child and follow along on the journey through the deep dark wood with games, challenges and plenty of festive photo moments along the way.

The festivities commence on 29^th November through to 1^st February. There is no need to book your visit for Christmas this year.

Garden admission applies for non-members. There is no extra cost to experience the Gruffalo's Child trail.

Opening times – 10am – 4pm daily (last entry 3:20pm) Closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Park café and shop – 10am-5pm daily Closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day, closing at 4pm on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

While the house will be closed this year as we begin exciting preparatory works to make Saltram more accessible for the future, there's still so much to see, do and enjoy. All the details and FAQs can be found at the bottom of this page.

A family walk along Lime Avenue in the garden at Saltram in Plymouth — Enjoy a winter walk in the garden at Saltram | © Chris Lacey

Father Christmas Grotto

Father Christmas will be dropping by the stables for meet and greets in his very own Saltram grotto! Spend some time with the big man, get a family photo and pick up your Christmas book present to take home. There will be 6 dates with lots of tickets available on each day, all tickets will need to be pre-booked tickets are £7 per child. Tickets aren't quite ready yet, check back here very soon!

A young boy meeting Father Christmas in his grotto at Ickworth, Suffolk — Meet Father Christmas at Saltram's grotto | © National Trust Images/Rob Stothard

Festive walks in the garden

Bobble hats at the ready, this Christmas the garden is also the place to stretch your legs and enjoy the fresh winter air on a walk, enjoy the last of the autumnal colours and end your stroll of course with a warming hot drink and mince pie. Make sure to visit the orangery and castle folly festively decorated by our garden team.

Winter courtyard café

Bring on the festive feels by settling down with a treat beside a giant Christmas tree under a tipi filled with fairy lights. Snuggle up with family and friends with a hot chocolate and a mince pie in the winter courtyard café this Christmas. The Park café and tipi will remain open till 5pm each day for those warming drinks after your Gruffalo’s child adventure.

Chapel Cafe

The Chapel café will be offering festive tea and cake on vintage crockery with views across the lawn to the house, the Chapel Cafe is the perfect location for a Christmassy slice of cake and a festive tipple this winter all on comfy sofa’s and armchairs.

Shopping

Saltram’s shop is the perfect place for gift giving this Christmas. With local makers offering brews, bakes as well as jewellery, candles and decorations the shop offers so much choice for the gift giving season. Pop in on certain days for our ‘meet the makers’ sessions where local suppliers come down to Saltram’s shop to share their products and special tastings over the Christmas period.

Accessibility at Saltram

We aim to make Saltram as accessible and welcoming as possible:

Parking: Accessible and disabled parking spaces are available.
Paths and mobility: Level paths in the garden are suitable for wheelchairs. An all-terrain Tramper is available to book - please email us at saltram@nationaltrust.org.uk to reserve.
Hearing support: Audio induction loops are installed in the café and Welcome Centre for visitors with hearing aids.
Toilets and baby changing: Adapted toilets with baby-changing facilities are located in the Stables. An additional disabled toilet is available at the Park Café.

Saltram access statement

Find out more about accessibility before your visit to Saltram

Our AccessAble page with more detailed information is available here

A crisp and wintry view of Saltram House from the Orangery at Christmas time — A crisp and wintry view of Saltram House at Christmas time | © Steve Haywood

Christmas FAQ’s

Why is the house not open and decorated as it usually is?

Earlier this year we received the fantastic news that Saltram has been successful in securing over £4 million (£6.2 million with match funding) from the National Heritage Lottery Fund to champion ending unequal access at Saltram in multiple different ways. There is a great deal of work that needs to be undertaken over the next four years to deliver on this project. Some of that work starts right now and requires lots of investigations and preliminary work within the house itself that simply couldn’t be conducted with Christmas happening inside the house for this year.

We know it will be a disappointment to many that the house is not open this Christmas, but we hope that the long term gain from getting these access works in progress will mean even better and even more accessible Christmases in Saltram’s very near future.

Do I need to book for my visit this year?

There is no need to book a ticket this year as it is the garden only that is open this year. You can arrive anytime you like between our opening hours (last entry for the gardens is 15:20 to allow enough time to enjoy the Gruffalo trail)

Are you opening later into the evening?

The trail is a daytime only offer and the garden will close at the earlier time of 4pm due to loss of daylight. The café, tipi and shop will remain open till 5pm so you can still grab a hot drink after your trail experience.

Will there be a Father Christmas this year?

We will not be hosting our ‘Songs and Stories’ with Father Christmas this year. Due to budget constraints, staff changes and delivery of Lottery work, our Songs and Stories sessions won’t be going ahead for 2025. We know this will be sad news to many, but we are excited to be putting on a Father Christmas grotto! There will be 6 dates with lots of tickets available, so Santa will still be stopping by at Saltram in the run up to the big day! Slots will need to be pre-booked for this you can buy tickets via our events page when they are released.

What about Christmas 2026? Will the house re-open then?

The house will also be closed in 2026 as this is when all the remaining physical building in the house is set to be completed. This includes the exciting install of a lift to the first floor, platform lifts around the ground floor and the install of new exhibition spaces, all to be launched in 2027. But we will be using this time to create a wonderful outdoor Christmas experience for visitors, we’ve got so many brilliant ideas to bring you a new, exciting Christmas offer for 2026

Can I bring my dog?

Yes you can, dogs are allowed in certain parts of Saltram’s garden. We ask that all dogs are kept on short leads, that you stick to the paths and pick up any mess. Dog route maps are free to pick up at the Welcome Centre.

Is it all accessible?

Yes, all the garden paths where the trail will feature are level, but are made up of small gravel surface so can be a little bumpy in places. There is an all terrain tramper that can be booked in advance. Please email saltramtramper@nationaltrust.org.uk to book.

How much does the trail cost?

The Gruffalo’s Child trail is free, there is no additional charge to take part in the trail but admission prices do apply for non members. Please see the Prices section of the website.