Father Christmas has the ideal place to keep warm and plough through his heavy workload in Belgium this festive season.

Serge Hennebel, aeronautical technician by trade, has set up a Christmas village in his garden near Brussels with a bedroom, a workshop and an office from which Santa Claus can read his letters.

Set-up began in late September and Hennebel has taken a month off work to run the operation during the peak Christmas season.

Hennebel started his Christmas decoration adventure 25 years ago with a single lighting installation. Now he has an entire winter wonderland with hundreds of lights, multiple sleighs, decorated indoor spaces for visitors to explore and a dedicated team of elves, who assist with both the preparation and everyday running of the village.

"We didn't mean to create this whole domain, it just happened and now we're really very happy and get lots of visitors," he said.

Decorations also include a Belgian touch, with a festively dressed Manneken Pis, the cheeky Brussels statue of a little boy peeing, and an Atomium, the capital's futuristic landmark, in Christmas lights.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.