Christmas lasts all year for Mike and Alison Battle. The married couple start planning their festivities every January and meet Father Christmas “hundreds of times'' throughout December. Christmas shopping never ends: they buy festive props at antique fairs and antiquarian book sales year-round for their annual immersive experience, Lapland UK.
It’s not to be mistaken for the so-bad-they’re-funny winter wonderlands, with expensive tickets to view limply-strung fairy lights and plastic polar bears in a muddy field triggering complaints. The Battles’ £60-plus-per-head extravaganza has been running for 15 years, with attendees including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, the Beckhams, Andy Murray, and “most of the British royalty, including the Duke and Duchess of Wales - who insisted on a standard tour with other families just like them.”
