A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, London, December 2015 -

Running until the 3rd Jan 2016, Winter Wonderland describes itself as ‘London’s Spectacular Christmas Destination’ and, to be honest, it’s a pretty good day out.

Admission is free and there’s no shortage of things to look at – or spend your money on, if so inclined.

View of the Wonderland from outside. There’s two main entrances at either end, and you can expect to get your bag searched as you enter.

The crowds were surprisingly modest for a Sunday, which made the experience far more enjoyable.

Many of the attractions had a pretty tenuous Christmas connection – it’s more of a winter funfair than anything else – but the scale of some of the rides was impressive.

I first visited the event in 2009 and it has grown massively in scale since then.

This psychotically laughing dismembered Santa was the stuff of nightmares.

As well as all the whizz-bang hi-tech attractions, there was also loads of more traditional fairground stalls.

There was no shortage of bars on the site but at £5 a pint, it wasn’t the place for drinking on a budget.

Some kind of monster grinning corn cob thing.

Some of the rides were buttock-clenchingly tall.

The ice rink was laid out around the bandstand. It’s quite mesmerising to watch the skaters go endlessly by, although I suspect that many people are secretly hoping to watch a spectacular fall or two.

Person down!

A female singer/guitarist played from the bandstand, one of many live performers playing in unusual locations (several were compelled to play on rotating platforms).