So it’s only seven weeks to go and things are hotting up here at Christmas Forest HQ. In a well-earned break, I put a few questions to The Big Cheese of Trees to share how it all began …Let’s start at the beginning Kelty – what inspired The Christmas Forest?I have always loved Christmas and we always had a real tree. Also I was thinking of leaving teaching and thought...

As Christmas tree purchasing only comes up once a year (and let’s face it, it is a time of year when we are usually extremely busy), we don’t get the chance to get very tree-savvy.Here are Kelty’s top tips:Find a supplier that stocks un-netted trees. That way you can have a good look at the trees true structure and textures. Our trees are really clearly displayed and you can wander...

Buying a real Christmas tree as a family is one of those rituals you’ll remember all your life. Artificial tree users, meanwhile, will most likely impart little more than the memory of getting a fake tree out the attic and giving it a good dusting. Not quite so romantic.Real Christmas trees are carbon-neutral as they absorb as much carbon dioxide during the seven to ten years they spend growing as...

My mother was remarkably unworried about colour co-ordinating our Christmas tree or trying to make it look in any discernible way chic or pretty. I wonder at how she simply handed the whole thing over to her children.Armed with decorations made with plaited straws and covered with glitter, hideous baubles we would fashion out of papier mache, fake snow, and pine cones painted garish colours we would attack that tree.The...

At The Christmas Forest, we’re often asked where we buy our Christmas tree decorations from. Over the next few weeks the team here will divulge some of its favourite shops and design tricks to make your tree outshine all the others! So watch this space for tips and links to gorgeous Xmas decorations.