Reindeer in Surrey . . .?

I decided to visit our local garden centre this afternoon for a little break from the ironing and to get outside for a while.

For many years this particular garden centre has advertised the presence of  reindeer at Christmas time, presumably as a way to draw in the children, and naturally also their parents and grandparents, to swell the coffers.  Fair enough, that's what commerce is all about.

Although I've often been in to look for something in particular around this time, I've never yet seen the famous reindeer so I went with a purpose this afternoon . . .

I must admit, I was rather disappointed. They have a lot of land and I was expecting to see the reindeer roaming around a field, not penned up like this.

This particular chap may have super antlers but he doesn't look particularly happy, and I can't say I blame him.

Now this is much more my sort of thing . . . 

And this is what I call a great reindeer opportunity . . . 

The other thing that is very apparent; the plants are very much side-lined nowadays in our larger garden centres.  It is like a mini shopping mall.  You could just about do all your Christmas shopping for the whole family; Christmas decorations, clothing, books, toiletries, gift items, candles, kitchen ware, china, etc. and an absolutely enormous coffee shop which also offers very reasonable cooked lunches too.  It provides a lot of employment, locally, and to be fair, just how many winter pansies and poinsettia can you sell?  There is not much else in the area.