Stepping inside this Christmas grotto inside school in Blackheath will truly be like stepping through the looking glass once the display opens.

Michael Beverley has worked for the past nine years on making the ultimate grotto that can turn the room into an enchanted homeland for gnomes.

Part of Greenwich Steiner School’s Enchanted Winter Fair, Michael will work with parents at the school over the course of 16 hours to transform the classroom into the Gnome Grotto.

Michael said: “I have literally spent hundreds of hours creating the features. When children and adults enter the grotto, I want them to feel like they've been transported to another world, no longer bounded by the four walls of the classroom.”

“Last year a friend’s child was convinced that the holo-gnome was real and asked me where on earth did I manage to find a real live gnome.

“A previous year I had to encourage a small child to climb out of the infinity cave because although it might look like it goes on forever, it really doesn't. A real Alice in Wonderland moment.”

The fair takes place at the Blackheath school on December 3 from 11am to 4pm. Admission for adults is £1 and children go free, and entrance to the grotto itself is £2.