Alternative Christmas trees provide festive flair

Filey Fishtive Tree was named by local schoolchildren and is topped by a leaping salmon instead of a star

With concerns about the ecological impact of both plastic and real trees for Christmas, some people have turned to alternatives to traditional trees.

In the North Lincolnshire village of Appleby, eight knitters erected a 10ft (3m) crocheted Christmas tree for 2021.

Filey in North Yorkshire has a "Fishtive tree" built of lobster pots each year in its harbour.

And tree rental and buy-and-return schemes have been increasingly popular this year.

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Appleby's knitted tree was created in secret over the past year by eight women, many of whom had never knitted before because, they said, they wanted to "bring a bit of joy" to the village.

A 10ft (3m) crocheted tree was erected in a village near Scunthorpe

Filey's 'Fishtive Tree' is rebuilt from lobster pots each year

Filey's Fishtive Tree organiser Rex Harrison said 2021 was the sixth year of the lobster pot construction, which takes a team of six people about a day to build.

"It's quicker each year to build now we know what to do," Mr Harrison said.

"We try to change the colour every year and we use whatever lobster pots are available. It's getting rather popular."

Money raised from visitors to the Fishtive Tree, which is topped with a leaping salmon instead of a star, goes to support local schools and Filey Sea Cadets.

After Christmas, Rooted in Todmorden takes the trees back and keeps them alive - often for the same people - the following year

Ninety miles inland, at Heeley City Farm in Sheffield, a new scheme for people to rent real Christmas trees saw half the farm's trees go in two hours, while at Rooted in West Yorkshire, a "real-reusable" tree project sees trees returned to the farm after Christmas to be re-potted, re-acclimatised outside, and kept alive for use at future Christmases.

Owner Sara Tomkins said some trees had even become "family friends" with people giving the same tree back so they could have it the following year.

"It becomes a new family tradition for them to have the same tree over and over," she said.

There was "no waste produce and no dead trees after Christmas" she said, so the carbon footprint saved was "huge".

The trees also contribute towards Calder Valley flood defences for the rest of the year.

People buy real trees from the Todmorden farm and return them after Christmas for use again

The British Christmas Tree Growers Association (BCTGA) in Harrogate allayed ethical fears about buying a real tree, announcing that Christmas trees are "fully sustainable" and absorb a lot of CO2 during their eight to 10 growing years.

The BCTGA said 2021 had been "excellent" for Christmas tree sales, with many people choosing to buy a tree because of spending the festive period at home this year again with the pandemic.

In West Yorkshire, a team of landscape gardeners has made hundreds of trees from pallets, with the profits from selling them used to buy presents for thousands of vulnerable children.

Kippax fencer Reese Fletcher, who started the scheme last Christmas, said by the end of October 2021 they had made 550 pallet trees to sell.

"It's nice to be nice, isn't it?" he said. "Give a bit back."