Renting Christmas trees is a real growth industry

If you’re someone who doesn’t want a plastic Christmas tree but doesn’t know what to do with a real one once the fun is all over, this farm in Leicestershire could be your solution.

LoveAChristmasTree.co.uk is a company which allows people to both rent or buy a Christmas tree and return it to the farm after Christmas is over.

They have a massive 15,000 trees planted in Leicestershire and they are proving extremely popular.

Alastair Lucking is the director of the company, based in Kirkby Mallory. He said it all began in 2013 when he was nearing 60 and looking to retire from his job as a management consultant.

he said: “I was approaching 60 and I was looking to retire, so I told my wife and she said ‘okay but you’ll have to run it past the boys’.

“So I did and they said I would need to find a hobby. I have always wanted to do something with the field that we have, so I thought, why not grow Christmas trees?”

Since then the business has grown alongside the trees and so far this year they have rented out 2,000 evergreens. The trees are grown in Denmark for four years before being transported to Leicestershire, where they are then replanted and continue to grow until they are nine.

Once they reach this age, they stand at about 4ft – the perfect size for displaying and decorating in a family home.

“They’re really easy to look after, all we ask is that you don’t put them close to a radiator or an open fire,” said Mr Lucking.

“If you want, you can even get the same tree the next year, we’ve had people who have had the same tree for four years.”

Once you are done with it, you simply arrange a pick-up date and the team will come to get your tree and replant it to keep it alive so it can brighten up another home next Christmas.

“I was on holiday when I had the eureka moment, there was an opportunity to rent out trees so that we could be more eco-friendly,” Mr Lucking said.

Trees can be rented for about six weeks and depending on the size come at different prices.

A 3ft tree will cost £20; a 4ft tree will cost £25; and a four-and-ahalf ft tree will cost about £29, said Mr Lucking.