Prøve GULL - Gratis

'Tis the season to be busy

Country Life UK

|

December 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue)

Christmas represents the climax of the working year for some rural businesses. Ben Lerwill talks to six stalwarts whose lives are hectic at this time and finds out how they cope with the deadlines-as well as how they relax

- Ben Lerwill

'Tis the season to be busy

The Christmas-tree grower

GROWING Christmas trees came about fortuitously,' says Andrew Ingram of The Tree Barn in south Oxfordshire. 'I took over the family farm in 1970, in my early twenties -I'm 75 now and there was a hedgerow that needed thickening up, so we chose to do it with Christmas trees. We were a traditional farm with Jersey cows, but we couldn't compete with Friesians, so I had to sell the herd.

'I cast around for something else to do and noticed the trees were growing rather well, so I made the wise move of joining the British Christmas Tree Growers Association. Everything I've learned since that moment has been through them. I've been very fortunate. I found out I was on exactly the right soil type to grow them-free draining, slightly acidic and not in a frost pocket. I also happen to live in a place called Christmas Common and, if you can't sell Christmas trees from Christmas Common, there's something wrong with you!'

The Ingrams plant about 17,000 trees a year, of which they sell between 7,000 and 8,000 direct from the shop run by Mr Ingram's wife, Jane, together with hand-crafted decorations. They supply big display trees for London hotels and Oxford colleges and have provided the Downing Street tree three times.

'The ideal tree should have an almost perfect triangular shape,' Mr Ingram advises. 'It needs to be dense, with lots of branches, and the colour is important-you want a good, strong, dark green. When I started, we were growing Norway spruce, but the market has changed. Now, it's mainly Nordmann fir.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA Country Life UK

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

Dogged work uncovers Rembrandt secret

ALTHOUGH history doesn't record how passionate Rembrandt van Rijn was about dogs, he clearly liked them enough to feature them in several of his paintings, such as his Self-portrait in Oriental Attire with Poodle (1631-33).

time to read

1 min

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

The royal treatment

Edward VII swept away the cobwebs of mid-Victorian style, Queen Mary had passion for all things small and the Queen Mother bought rather avant-garde art. In a forthcoming talk, Tim Knox, director of the Royal Collection, charts a century of regal taste

time to read

3 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

The garden for all seasons

The private Worcestershire garden of John Massey

time to read

5 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

When in Rome

For anyone considering tweaking pasta alla carbonara-a work of art as fine as the Trevi Fountain-the answer is always: non c'è modo! Or is it, asks Tom Parker Bowles

time to read

3 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

The scoop

\"The planned article was on the damson harvest; instead, we got Donald Trump's ally's taps turned off\"

time to read

3 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

The goddess of small things

For Rita Konig, interior design isn't only about coherence and comfort: it should be a celebration of stuff. Giles Kime charts her transatlantic career

time to read

4 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

Farmers vent fury at Labour's conference

THE Labour party's controversial proposed reforms of farm inheritance tax were the catalyst that led 1,200 disgruntled British farmers to converge on Liverpool and stage a protest at the Labour Party Conference.

time to read

2 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

Vested interest

Favoured by Byronic bluesmen, Eton pops and rotund royalty, the waistcoat and its later iterations are an integral part of the Englishman's wardrobe, says Simon Mills

time to read

5 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

The easel in the crown

Together with ancient armour, Egyptian cats and illuminated manuscripts, this year's Frieze Masters sees a colourful work by an even more colourful character, a Nigerian prince who set out to make 'contemporary Yoruba traditional art'

time to read

5 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

Everything you need to know about trees and shrubs

SOMETIMES, it is difficult to remember how we functioned before the internet took over the way we garden.

time to read

3 mins

October 08, 2025

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size