A MAGICAL post office where you can write your letter to Santa has opened up inside Festival Place.

Children (and adults too) can prepare their Christmas letter with the help of Santa's elves before posting it in the magical post box and watching it travel all the way to Santa HQ in Lapland.

The pop-up shop, which is completely free, is run by the North Pole (with the help of Basingstoke Together) and will be open from 10am to 5pm today.

It will open again on Saturday and Sunday next weekend for the children of Basingstoke to get their last minute Christmas letter's written.

One of the elves, Kelly, told the Gazette: "The children come in and they write their letters to Father Christmas.

"We have a magic postbox that travels all the way to Lapland."

Another elf, Francesca, added: "We have a craft area as well and we also do a game of Spot the Naughty Elf.

"We also have free chocolate for the children."