Hoping No 10 has a merry Christmas – around my 18ft tree (From Echo)

Hoping No 10 has a merry Christmas – around my 18ft tree

12:00pm Friday 22nd October 2010 in Local News By Christine Sexton

Tall order – Christmas Tree Farm owner Martin Hurley hopes one of his specimens will grace the outside of No 10

CHRISTMAS Tree Farm in Hawkwell is in the running to provide a Christmas Tree for Downing Street.

The farm in Rectory Road has been announced as a finalist in a nationwide competition run by the British Christmas Tree Growers’ Association.

Tradition has it the champion grower has the honour of delivering the Prime Minister a spectacular 18ft Christmas tree to start the Christmas festivities at No 10. The tree is placed, for all the world to see, outside Downing Street Owner Martin Hurley, said: “The farm has been growing Christmas trees for more than 30 years, through three generations of the same family and it is a real honour to be put forward on our first year of entering the competition.

“We have normally been too busy getting the site ready for opening to the public, as we do each year on December 1, to enter. However, we are increasingly being asked by all manner of organisations to supply larger trees up to 20ft high for public display, so we decided to enter the competition.”

While the farm is very much a seasonal enterprise, work goes on throughout the year.

Mr Hurley said: “Everyone thinks we just open for December and that is all we do.

“But preparations for our opening are well under way and supplying large trees to town halls and public squares like that required for No 10 will be under way from mid-November.

“As the largest Christmas tree farm in Essex there is always much to do, but we do not start to cut our trees for general public sales until the last few days of November.

“We continue cutting through December for our policy is to supply the freshest real Christmas trees available.”

The farm is up against 15 other finalists. The winner will be announced today.