Festive Fir Trees!

The Duchy of Lancaster was delighted to provide Christmas trees grown on its rural estates to local village halls, schools and churches once again this year. Organisations across our Cheshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire estates were amongst those who requested a fir tree for the festive season in December 2022, organised and delivered by the Duchy’s rural team and forestry consultants.

One such contractor, Max Hickinbottom of Treemendous Estate Care Ltd in Staffordshire, has worked with the Duchy for 23 years, undertaking maintenance work within our estate woodlands and general groundskeeping. A former tenant himself, Max is so well known within the local community that he was personally mentioned with a special thankyou by the local Parish Council for his hard work in felling the trees and transporting them to their respective locations.

In Cheshire, the tree supplied annually to All Saints’ Church in Weston arrived in plenty of time to allow for the traditional dressing of the tree by children from the local Primary School and the open air community carol service on Christmas Eve. The Duchy’s Clerk of Works for Lancashire, Tom Wells, also took great pride in identifying, felling and transporting a 35ft tree from our Whitewell estate which took pride of place in the courtyard of Lancaster Castle.

This is a tradition which dates back more than 20 years. New trees are planted each year to replace those felled for Christmas and ensure a continuous supply for future years.