FATHER Christmas will be taking a well-earned break from the stresses of the North Pole as guest of honour at English Heritage’s Victorian Christmas at Osborne House on November 30 and December 1.

Tickets can be pre-booked in advance for An Audience with Father Christmas.

All children, naughty or nice, will join the man in red for winter tales and an early Christmas present amid the festive decorations of Osborne’s beautiful ground-floor rooms.

Tickets for the experience are £5 per child, in addition to entry to the Victorian Christmas event.

Queen Victoria’s seaside home will be transformed for the festivities, allowing visitors to step back in time to a season of roasting chestnuts, classic carol singing, festive family entertainments, and the very first Christmas trees.

Children will have the opportunity to ride on the vintage carousel and swing boats, make their own toys to take home, and discover the joy of Victorian games, with entertainment supplied by fire-breathing jesters, fast-paced retellings of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and Christmas ghost stories.

The Yuletide frivolity will continue after dark and into the evening as Father Christmas switches on the twinkling outdoor lights.

Osborne’s Victorian Christmas takes place from 11am until 7pm.