SANTA and his elves have been spotted in Thornhill as he greeted children ahead of Christmas Day.

Travelling on his sleigh, he passed through the village on Monday night before visiting Orgill and Castle Croft on Tuesday.

His visit was organised by Egremont’s Crab Fair Committee.

Daniel Shutt, from the committee, said: “It was great. We do it to put a smile on the kids’ faces – we’ve been doing it for about 20 years now.”

Santa met with children from across the area and used FaceTime to speak to Kylan-J Heslop, a toddler, from Thornhill, with a rare life-limiting muscle disorder, who is in hospital in Newcastle.

His journey continues on Smithfield and The Pastures tonight, North Road, East Road, York Place, Brisco Mount and Dent View on Thursday and Dale View, Gulley Flats, Ling Road and Fell View on Friday.

Visits runs from 5.30pm to 8pm, weather permitting. He will finish his trip to Egremont on the Main Street, from 10am on Saturday. The Crab Fair team thanked the Orgill School elves for their help, Copeland Council’s Parks Department for the sleigh and Cumbria Community Transport for a minibus, which is being used by the elves.