It may be 10 weeks until Christmas but work on the annual Winter Wonderland at Cribbs Causeway has already begun.

Now in its sixth year, the attraction at the Mall has become synonymous with Christmas, attracting thousands of people from all over the area.

Now an intensive 15-day programme to build the largest outdoor ice rink in the South West, a fairytale Santa's Castle and a 20-stall Christmas Market – featuring festive goodies and present ideas – has started.

Next week, Santa's Castle will be craned into position in large sections and assembled and decorated. This is followed by 20 log cabins for the Christmas Market, which will stay open until 10pm weekdays.

The final stage is building the ice rink. A massive 70,000 litres of water is used to create the ice bed, which takes approximately 24 hours to freeze.

The rink will then be decorated with 2,500 fairy lights, and it can accommodate 300 people at each session. Last year, the rink played host to 40,000 skaters.

The grand opening is on Thursday, November 12. The Christmas lights will be switched on that day by Father Christmas, who will arrive at the Mall with his reindeer at 5.45pm.

Bush, Troy and Paulina from Heart Breakfast will then help Santa to switch on the Christmas lights at 6pm.