a PUB landlady’s impressive collection of Santa dolls and figurines have gone on display in her Chagford pub to welcome in Christmas.

Mary French, who runs popular inn The Globe with husband Graham Flight, has arranged her collection up around the lounge bar and dining room of the pub.

Since doing so, she has been touched to receive a letter penned in verse from one of her regulars, which describes a fantasy visit by Santa to the pub – after which he transforms himself into one of the Santas on mantelpiece and shelves.

Mary said: ‘It has not been easy over the past year or two running a pub, this year has been particularly difficult – so I wanted to do something special.

‘As I am known for my amazing collection of Father Christmases, we decided to get them all out in the pub for everyone to enjoy.

‘We wanted to raise people’s sprits; I do think we have achieved our goal especially after we got this letter from a customer.’

The letter describes a tired Santa knocking on the door of The Globe in Chagford after flying his reindeer across the Atlantic in his search to find ‘somewhere friendly, welcoming and homely to spend the night’ before continuing his journey across Europe to deliver presents there.

Welcomed in by Graham and Mary, he stables his sleigh and reindeer in The Globe’s courtyard garden and is soon putting up his feet in front of the fire with a mince pie and glass of milk.

Spotting Mary’s impressive collection of Santa figurines, he turns himself into one of them, so he can prolong his visit to Chagford and have a really good rest.

The letter ends by encouraging people to visit the pub ‘around Christmas Eve’ to see the collection and see if they can work out which of the figurines is the real Father Christmas.

Mary said she was ‘moved’ by this tribute to her collection. She explained that she starte collecting Santas at the tender age of 13.

‘My grandmother gave me one, that was a long long time ago, and I have been acquiring them ever since. I don’t actually ever buy any now, people give them to me. They will come in and say I have got one you might like.

‘I grew up in a city, we were extremely extremely poor and when I got this gift from her, it was something so special. It struck something inside me and stayed there.

‘I have special ones, but I also have ones from my travels and from other people’s travels. There are some that are valauable and some that are only worth 10p. They drive my husband mad!’

She said they did not put up the Santas in the ‘drinking bar’ in the pub. ‘Not everybody likes them a space where they don’t have to be surrounded by them!’

Mary’s Santas can be seen throughout the festive period, apart from Christmas Day when the pub is closed.