Newburgh Priory prepares 20,000 trees for Christmas

More than 20,000 Christmas trees are currently being readied for sale, as Newburgh Priory estate, near York, gears up for the festive season.

Owner Stephen Wombwell believes that Christmas this year will be very important – as families across the country try to forget about the global pandemic.

“This has been a terrible year for everyone and the impression I’m getting is that people want to bring a bit of festive cheer and celebrate the best they can,” he said. “Anecdotal evidence so far suggests that the sale of Christmas decorations has been swifter than ever – and the quintessential Christmas decoration is the Christmas tree.”

Mr Wombwell and his childhood friend Will Standeven have been growing Christmas trees on the estate for the last 10 years. Now they are selling them in bulk across the north of England this Christmas, as well as setting up a special retail outlet at Newburgh – and giving trees away to local schools.

“The national lockdown will inevitably present challenges. But we are well-prepared and will work strictly within all Covid-19 guidelines. We are working towards opening our retail outlets as we normally do,” Mr Wombwell added.

Mr Wombwell decided to start growing Christmas trees to diversify the estate’s income shortly after he took over the running of the priory from his father who retired in 2010.

The fact that he is doing this below the tomb containing Oliver Cromwell’s headless body, which lies in the Newburgh attic, only adds to the excitement – as Cromwell tried to ban Christmas.

He said: “If all goes well, I am hoping that in a few years’ time, up to 25 per cent of my income will come from selling trees, but at the moment it’s a waiting game. We’ve had eight years of growing trees with roughly £100,000 worth of outgoings a year.”

Mr Standeven added: “Last year we had our best year yet, harvesting and selling thousands of trees, ranging from 5ft-7ft for the cut trees and about 3ft for the potted trees. This year we are confident of breaking that record, with 20,000 trees available to buy.”

They will be distributed across the north of England and will also be available at Newburgh and at Methley, near Leeds, on the Mexborough Estate.

The first Christmas tree seedlings were planted in the ground in 2012. It now has 220,000 trees across 110 acres.

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