Christmas tree hire offer from Bristol community farm

Amy Nelson hope the farm's plan for a greener Christmas will catch on

A community project has come up with a scheme to save more Christmas trees from ending up being thrown away.

Lawrence Weston Community Farm in Bristol is encouraging people who have trees with roots to bring them to be nurtured at the farm.

Then next Christmas they can rent them back, or other families can do so.

The scheme has already attracted interest from families who want to keep the same tree while reducing their impact on the environment.

Eight million Christmas trees are chopped down in the UK every year. Some are sent for recycling but most get thrown away.

Staff at the farm say buying a living tree and keeping it year after year is more sustainable and makes economic sense.

They are offering to plant and care for people's living trees and then rent them back at low cost each Christmas.

A sustainable way to enjoy Christmas for Lizzy, Evelyn and Pat

Amy Nelson who works at the community farm said: "A lot of people spend a fortune buying these chopped trees, so we came up with the idea of creating an environmentally sustainable but also an economically great way to decorate your home at Christmas time."

Since posting the idea on Facebook the farm has had a stream of enquiries.

One family from Bristol has already joined the scheme.

"We bought a tree in 2019 in East London and carried it home on the bus from there - the tiniest one that was there as we were living in a very small flat," said Lizzy Westcott.

"Since then it's moved house with us to Bristol and we've had it in our garden for a year and a half. But it's time for someone else to look after it now."