Youngsters can now enjoy the famous Christmas tale in a beautiful setting, writes Graham Young.

There are few more memorable events in a parents’ life than proudly watching their children taking part in a school Nativity production.

As well seeing the boys and girls in a class learning how to remember lines, experiencing a genuine sense of teamwork and perhaps even taking a lead, it’s also a rare chance to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

But if the setting for such an event is a school hall or gymnasium, then it also takes a fair degree of imagination from all parties to translate that kind of production into the world of 2,000 years ago.

With city centre shops, various trading estates and Birmingham’s Frankfurt market all clamouring for your business, popping along to a farm at this time of the year might not seem like the obvious thing to do.

It can, though, be the most rewarding as the 1,000-acre Umberslade Farm Park is now proving.

Here, youngsters can take their new found school acting skills into a proper barn and arrive at their improvised Nativity on board a real donkey.

As the weather and darkness closes in on the Tanworth-in-Arden site, any chills caused by the climate are soon removed by this most heart-warming of experiences.

Unlike school halls which tend to be flat, there’s also plenty of room for watching parents to get a raised view of the action.

The farm staff can appear in different outfits themselves, ready to play the narrator, kings and shepherds depending on how many visitors there are per session.

To add to the atmosphere, a music system plays snippets of familiar tunes.

There is also, of course, the appearance of toy lambs, gifts and the newborn Jesus – in our show he was a doll, but if your Mary has her own baby sibling then why not suggest another starring role?

At 3pm in the afternoon during our early December visit, it felt like this was as good as a nativity gets.

Small wonder that schools have booked the nativity heavily in term time, but it also continues for the public this weekend and into next week up to December 23.

Elsewhere on the farm, there’s plenty to see and do – and with a cosy cafe to hand with food cooked freshly by a friendly chef, you won’t be in danger of going hungry or getting too cold either.