Season 2023 - Twas the months before Christmas...

So we begin preparations to open our Christmas tree farm for the fourteenth year running. As always its a family affair and we are all keen for the festivities to begin. Nell and Ted have grown so much and are now even more helpful than ever. Many of you may have been served your hot chocolate by Nell or been given your change by Ted last year. They are geared up and ready to get started with the season ahead, although more helpful now they are more expensive to employ. Still its hard to believe that Nell was 8 months old when we sold our first christmas tree. Another popular member of the team is Ralph, our much adored Golden Retreiver, he is often to be seen in a supporting role curled up in front of the only heat source at the farm or trying to catch crumbs from a passing toddler nibbling on a mince pie. Mojo and I look forward to welcoming you. I will as usual, be ‘out front’ apologising that despite seeing the same lovely faces for many years I cant recall surnames to add to tags without a prompt and Moj will be found in amongst the plantation rows searching through thousands of fir trees to find the tag you lovingly placed on your tree.

There are also many other people who work with us and offer us support throughout this busy time, we wouldn’t and couldn’t manage without you. Thank you so much Belinda, Lucy, Sam, Isaac, Rob and many many more.

Aubrey, Clare and our favourite Hector of Hay will once again be stocking our freshly cut trees at the beautiful Larchwood Studio. The Brilley Festive Forestry is only open Friday, Saturday and Sundays, so these guys located just up from Hay bridge are available daily from December 1st, 10am til 4pm so that you can purchase a fresh locally grown tree at a time that suits you. Go check them out, not just for trees either, they often have lots of interesting locally grown produce from apple juice to hazelnuts and a vast array of wellness, yoga and mindfulness courses all year round, in the peace and tranquility of the studio space.

I will keep this space updated with any changes as we progress, but it’ll soon be time to get our bobble hats on and the mince pies out. See you soon, Abi

Pine needles and muddy boots for the twelfth year running.

Thankfully we have enjoyed some semblance of normality in the later part of this year, and I hope that reassuring normality will continue as we get ready to welcome all your lovely, familiar faces to our tree farm in November and December. We look forward to seeing you all.

I have added an FAQ section to the website this year to hopefully answer some of those queries that seem to pop up every year.

One question I didn’t address is, ‘How long does it take to grow a Christmas tree'?’, well the answer is, ‘A VERY long time’.

There is much more to growing a Christmas Tree than we could have ever imagined when we first began nurturing the plantation in 2009.

Our fastest growing variety is the spruce tree and we can usually grow a 6ft spruce in around 6-8years. The Nordman Fir trees are much slower to grow, and that is what gives them such great needle holding qualities. A 6ft Nordman fir tree will take us around 8 to ten years to grow. Each year the trees are shaped, several times and protected from disease with a sympathetic, minimal, pesticide program. We then re-plant around 1500 trees a year and protect each and every new sapling with its own little rabbit proof fence, to give it a fighting chance against our biggest fan, the Herefordshire bunny! We then have to weed, and mow the ten acre farm constantly throughout the summer to stop any root damage, and as the air cools and the grass stops growing we then begin preparations to welcome our lovely visitors.

We are so pleased to have some absolutely beautiful Christmas trees ready for your sitting rooms, hallways, porches and believe it or not even bedrooms this year! (I thought it was just Nell and Ted who were partial to a bedroom Christmas Tree….apparently not!)

Also, at the time of writing this, we eagerly await news of Aubrey and Clare’s new addition to the Larchwood team. They are expecting a beautiful baby boy any day now, and we cannot wait to meet him. The guys have very kindly said they would happily still supply trees to you lovely lot from their beautiful Larchwood Studio, (just up the hill from Hay Bridge). This year, they will open Monday through to Thursday, so luckily, there is somewhere to buy a festive forestry tree every day during December. As always we are very grateful for their participation and support, thanks team ‘Want to Canoe?’

So, we look forward to seeing you all soon………

Abi, Mojo, Nell, Ted and Ralph (who has grown ALOT)

What will Christmas 2020 bring.....?

Well, its that time of year again, when my emails start to ping in a little quicker and my phone actually bucks the trend of the last 9 months and rings now and again.

To say its been a weird year would be a huge understatement but despite all the uncertainties of 2020 one thing is for certain, Christmas will come around, and this year, more than ever we will need every bit of magic and sparkle we can grab hold of to bring back some joy to our lives!

We will be here, like every year, to mark the start of your Christmas season. Being an outdoor site, we can offer a completely safe, magical experience for you and your family. We may have to make a few small changes and currently I’m not sure how I can safely serve the mulled wine……gasp! But essentially, we will be able to continue as normal. You guys bring your lovely, smiley, joyful selves and we’ll provide the big field full of fresh Christmas trees for your enjoyment. As always, if you can’t make it up to see Mojo, myself, Nell and Ted at the tree farm in Brilley you can always nip in to visit Aubrey and Clare in Hay. We will be dropping them off a steady supply of our freshly cut trees and they are happy to help you make your selection. This year they have re-located from the riverside ‘Want to Canoe?’ yard, just up the road to Larchwood Studio. The new location is only a few seconds up the hill, it will be well signposted and will help to keep the guys defrosted in the winter conditions.

So what else is new…..

This year, we were approached by the delightful Marta and Artur May. They are very talented event/wedding photographers from Hereford and were looking for a safe outdoor location to carry out their annual Christmas family photo shoots. They carried out a mini shoot here with their gorgeous kids Gabi and Tim, and I think you’ll agree the results, shown below, are fab! With this disastrous year having such a negative affect on the wedding season, I really hope that this venture is well supported. Supporting local talent whilst making and capturing your own special memories……..What’s not to like? For more info go to:

https://martamayphotography.co.uk/christmas-minis/

Please complete the contact info on their website for full information on dates and prices.

Well that’s it from us, we’ll be seeing you in December when we’ve got Christmas well and truly underway!

Thanks, as always……. Abi

2009 - 2019 Ten Years at Festive Forestry

Well we’ve stood in front of our little Christmas tree farm now every year for TEN years. and its pretty hard to believe it!! Our daughter, Nell was 8 months old when we sold our very first tree and Teddy was obviously just a dream we hadn’t had yet, but now at ten and eight they are part of our team, welcoming you all every year to start your Christmas season with the tradition of selecting your tree (and sometimes having your first Christmas row, when you don’t agree on which tree to take home…..don’t worry, it happens ALOT).

We love seeing customers come along, and with each passing year, we see the changes to your families as we see it to ours, children growing year on year, families expanding, the first tree in new houses, newly married couples. Its fantastic and an honour to be a part of your Christmas traditions.

We’ve made a few changes this year, to mark our tenth tree anniversary, so we hope you like them and we look forward to seeing you all very soon…..

Abi x