Daily Mail

I'm dreaming of a WAG Christmas!

Thought YOU had one sparkly bauble too many? JAN MOIR wallows in the legendary boutique in the footballer­s’ wives heartland where trees cost £5k – and there’s enough bling to blind Santa...

- by Jan Moir

FORGET Lapland folks, here I am in the beating heart of Wagland — a store in the North-West of England which has become famed for the extravagan­ce and wonder of its wagtastic Christmas decoration­s.

In Bents Garden & Home Centre, just outside Warrington, nothing says Christmas more than a themed 10ft fake fir tree, covered in polystyren­e animals and a thousand baubles, hosed down with glitter and ostrich feathers.

Megan Davison, the fiancee of Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, has already shown off her Bents tree on Instagram; a marvel of sparkly fauna including polar bears, penguins, hedgehogs, butterflie­s and horses.

It’s hard to work out what her festive theme is, but Polar Roadkill must be a contender.

Meanwhile, chief Wag Coleen Rooney buys her tree and trimmings at Bents every year, and usually posts a photograph of these decoration­s on social media.

In 2014 and 2015, for example, she had a baubles and glitter bows theme. ‘Love my trees. Thanks Bents,’ she tweeted.

The following year Coleen went for an owl theme, and when I say ‘theme’ I mean the tree was covered with dozens of Bents snowy owls who looked startled to find themselves perched en masse in the Rooney sitting room.

They are on sale again this year, available in hitherto unknown species, including a White Plush Foam Owl (£16.99 each), a Standing Owl (£9.99) and a White Jewelled Owl (£4.99).

Look at their sparkly little faces! Tu-whit tu-why, they seem to cry.

I pop one into my basket and carry on shopping, perusing the 2018 decorating themes which include Festive Fusion ( butterflie­s, peacocks), So Magical (unicorns), Rural Retreat (more owls) and Rose Tinted (think pink).

Considerin­g the environmen­tal impact of all this junk, perhaps there should be a theme called The Landfill Look.

While some might say Bents is a place where good taste comes to die — a torrid snowscape of stuffed reindeers, pre-lit plastic icicles and frosted unicorns — others adore roasting their eyeballs on this festive fiesta of sparkle and prepostero­us bling, marvelling at the excess.

WHATEVER your opinion, all must agree that there is nothing half- baked about this particular Alaska. With Liverpool to the west and Manchester to the east, Bents is in a prime position to capture and accommodat­e the demands of the Wag trade.

The footballer­s’ enclaves of Alderley Edge and Wilmslow lie to the south, groaning with McMansions which are crying out for blingtasti­c festive decor.

And if you can’t come to them, Bents will come to you.

The energetic and successful company, which has been owned and run by the Bent family for 81 years, offers a bespoke Christmas at Home service.

The decorating team will turn up at your house to install and fully decorate the tree of your dreams, with prices ranging from £1,500 to £3,500 and beyond, depending on bauble density.

‘£5,000 a tree,’ one member of the team tells me, ‘is not unknown.’

The service can also include additional dressing such as wreaths and garlands — but if you want to order the service this Christmas, darling, you are already too late. The book is completely full, like it is every year.

A classic fully decorated Bents tree, like the Rose Tinted display model instore, has a base of a plastic 6½ft Snowy Dorchester Unlit tree, which is barely visible beneath a blizzard of silver baubles, frosted doves, jewelled berries, wire-trimmed ribbons and topped off with a spray of sparkly pink fern leaves.

To be honest, it looks more like a creepy tepee than a Christmas tree; a wigwam of bizarre glam that has become an object of festive lust for a huge number of female shoppers. One of them is shocked to discover that the £65 pink velvet tree garland with the pearl stud trim has sold out.

‘But there is one on that tree,’ she says, ready to pounce and rip it off with her bare hands, if needs must. ‘You can’t take it off. It’s wired on,’ says an assistant. The woman walks away, crushed.

This garden centre started off humbly in 1937, when Alfred and Margaret Bent started growing and selling roses in their own front garden. Now it has a dedicated Christmas team who travel the world to source the most fabulous and innovative decoration­s.

They even supply other similarmin­ded retail outlets, which is why fans who live far away can still access the ultimate Bents look; including TOWIE star Gemma Collins and Rebecca Vardy, the wife of Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy.

What is the appeal? Bents specialise­s in a kind of Disneyesqu­e, Kardashian-rich festive decor that strips out the natural and the genuine, replacing it with an explosion of plastic fantastic.

And Wags are drawn to excess like migrating geese are drawn to the south.

They want it large, they want it sparkly, they want it to appeal to their inner child who still hankers for glitter stickers and My Little Pony panache. Of course, the Wag fondness for acrylic has already been noted.

They like acrylic hair extensions, they like acrylic nails, some of them even have acrylic body parts. No wonder they love these acrylic teddy bears (£9.99), this waddle of acrylic penguins (£24.99) or even this £299 acrylic Northern Lights Jewelled Stag With Disco Lights.

Is he for indoors or outdoors? No one is sure, but at least one Wag will be scratching her head and thinking Jewelled Northern Stag? Didn’t I used to go out with him?

Today, Bents is a 200,000 sq ft retail space and a destinatio­n in its own right, with TripAdviso­r ratings, Yorkshire Pudding Wraps on sale in

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