A GOUROCK shop is ‘raising the baa’ this Christmas — by giving little ones a chance to meet Santa and some adorable four-legged friends.

Trishy Gannon, who owns artisan gift shop No26, teamed up with her dedicated crafters to pull out all the stops to bring a bit of the North Pole to Kempock Street.

Despite his busy delivery schedule, Mr Claus will now be taking time off to meet youngsters at the shop’s magical grotto.

He will also have cute ‘mini reindeer’ in tow in the shape of ouessant sheep, thought to be the smallest breed in the world.

Trishy said: “Our shop is not an ordinary shop, so we like to do things which are out of the box.

“We also want to offer a Santa’s grotto which is affordable, as I know some other grottos charge up to £25.”

Trishy says her team of crafters have worked very hard to create a glorious grotto from scratch.

She said: “Last year we did a ‘Meet the Lamb’ event where a local farmer brought in orphaned lambs, which was a great success.

“This year we wanted to do something bigger and better so the crafters built a grotto using wooden pallets and a fireplace bought in a charity shop for £3.

“Jane, who is one of our crafters, put a lot of time and effort into making Santa’s outfit.

“Crafter Tony Sweeney, who made a special bench for the grotto, is bringing a rare breed of miniature sheep which he looks after.

“We are calling them our mini reindeer and we have a big pen so they can go outside regularly.”

The grotto at No26 will be open every Saturday from 11am to 4pm until Christmas and on Christmas Eve.