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

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.
Denne historien er fra December 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue)-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Abonner på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av kuraterte premiumhistorier og over 9000 magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
FLERE HISTORIER FRA 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).
1 min
October 08, 2025

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
3 mins
October 08, 2025

Country Life UK
The garden for all seasons
The private Worcestershire garden of John Massey
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
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\"
3 mins
October 08, 2025

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
4 mins
October 08, 2025

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.
2 mins
October 08, 2025

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
5 mins
October 08, 2025

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'
5 mins
October 08, 2025

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.
3 mins
October 08, 2025
Translate
Change font size