Quick, the hall needs boughs of holly: Tree suppliers get ready as Scots rush for festive cheer

Workers at Murial Farm near Insch in Aberdeenshire begin to harvest this years crop of Christmas Trees as they prepare for the festive season.

The ghosts and ghouls haven’t even been for Hallowe’en yet but Scots are already going Christmas crazy according to tree suppliers.

There are still 10 weeks to go, but it seems, after a long Covid-tinged year, we’re ready to go crackers as soon as December hits.

Yuletide tree specialists Pines and Needles delivers Christmas trees the length and breadth of the UK – and says delivery slots are already filling up fast.

Owner Sam Lyle said: “Covid might be here – but hopefully Christmas isn’t cancelled. Well, not yet anyway.”

The company – which has a specialist department that usually decorates and installs trees up to 50ft tall for some of the UK’s biggest venues from Westminster Abbey to Wembley Arena – says commercial sales are down, due to offices still being closed and big events being cancelled.

But as Christmas tree delivery slots were released this month, the British public is snapping them up in their droves – with orders for trees up 35% year-on-year.

“The early indications are that people are gearing up for a bumper Christmas this year,” Sam said. “The usual trends are there, but it looks like our clients are starting to think about Christmas a lot earlier this year.”

Pines and Needles – which counts Madonna, Prince Harry and Meghan and One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson among its customers – grows Nordmann Fir and Norway Spruce trees at its plantations in Perthshire and Aberdeenshire.

They’ll start cutting down the 11-year-old firs late November, ready for shipping out to customers as soon as December rolls round.

“We sell about 60,000 trees a year, so the next few months are going to be busy,” Sam said. “People are booking earlier delivery slots, so I would imagine there will be a lot of people putting their trees up earlier this year, desperate to get into the Christmas spirit.

“And who knows, maybe this year people will get right into the Christmas spirit and put not just one tree, but two up. That would be fantastic news for us!”