Father Christmas is preparing for his festive deliveries with a visit to new houses in Exeter

A special visitor has been along to the new Barratt Homes development in Exeter recently.

The bearded visitor turned a few heads at the Minerva development, where he had come to ensure all the children who have recently moved into new homes are on his list for deliveries on Christmas Eve.

Sales director Nicki Reid said Father Christmas was seen checking out the best way to arrive at the development and updating his address book with the names of children who have moved into new homes since last Christmas.

“This is definitely the most interesting visitor we have had at Minerva and we’re making sure all the children in our new homes know that Father Christmas knows their new address,” she said.

Santa will travel an estimated 510 million km on Christmas Eve, flying at around 10 million km per hour in order to make the 233 million stops on his list. His first stop is the Republic of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean and, according to NORAD, which is running its popular online Santa tracker, he will make his way west around the world before arriving in the UK.

Nicki added: “This development has really taken shape since he last flew over, with lots of new families living here, so Santa and his reindeer will have lots to see.”