Canalside Christmas Trees

A HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our customers. Thank you for supporting us and we hope you are still enjoying your tree.
One suggestion for your tree after twelfth night if you don't want to dispose of it immediately is to put it into the garden and hang bird food from it. The little birds really appreciate the protective cover it gives.
A date for your diaries - we know it seems long way off - is our 2020 opening weekend, which will be 14 & 15 November, and then every weekend u...ntil Christmas. We will be opening up new areas of trees for 2020, so it will pay to come early to pick the best. We look forward to seeing you again!
🌲🌲Rob🎅 and 🎅David🌲🌲
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Many thanks to all our kind customers who contributed so generously to our collection for the Marlborough and District Rotary Club's Naomi House Appeal. I have just given a cheque for £245 to Rotary President Martin Luxford to add to their funds raised by their street collections this Christmas. 🌲👫🌲

Good Morning. A big thank you to all our customers for making the past four weekends so enjoyable. It was lovely to meet old friends, some for their fifth year running, and the many new ones who came for their first Christmas Tree from us. And thank you for the many kind and encouraging comments and some super photos that you have posted on our Facebook page and elsewhere. We've added another which we particularly like -this is the way to carry your tree home!
We are open... next weekend 14/15 December from 9am for collections and 10am for sales until 4pm when it gets too dark to choose your tree. We are also open on Friday 13th for collections, preferably after 1pm when we've finished preparations for the tree collections.
For those who like to concentrate their Christmas into just a few days we are also open on Friday 20th afternoon and Saturday 21st December.
David, Rob and their team look forward to welcoming you.
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STOP PRESS! EARLY OPENING
We are opening at 9am this weekend, 7th and 8th December to allow customers collecting pre-paid trees to get them before the expected rush of customers selecting and buying their trees when we open at 10am. WE close at 4pm as usual as it is almost dark by then.

Christmas is only three weeks away and judging by our happy customers everybody is getting prepared early to make this year special. Our Christmas Trees are bigger and better this year and are much admired by our existing and new customers; almost as much as they appreciate their free mulled wine, mince pies and sweets which they can enjoy with them while they stroll through our lovely trees or afterwards while waiting for their trees to be made ready to take away.
We’ve enj...oyed meeting our old customers, for some this is their fifth year of choosing one of our trees, and our new customers, many who have come based on the recommendations of their friends. So far our sales of trees have been very positive and we are now very busy preparing for next weekend, which we expect to be the most popular days with lots of customers either buying their trees and collecting previously ordered trees.
STOP PRESS : To help to ease the crowds we are open from 9 am this Saturday and Sunday for customers who are collecting their pre-paid trees. Normal opening hours for choose and cut sales remain at 10am to 4pm
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The end of September brings us out into the Christmas tree field to start selecting, grading and tagging trees in preparation for our open days when our customers come to select and buy their trees. This work is culmination of our summer programme of keeping the trees free of weeds and this year we are taking particular care to eliminate any unwanted bugs while encouraging the beneficial insects that feed on the pests. We hope that some good sharp frosts and cold days from no...w until Christmas, and perhaps even snow, will help us achieve our objective.
Our Nordmann fir and Norway Spruce trees are looking very good again this year and we have Nordmann up to nearly 3m (10ft) tall. If you require a particularly large tree please come along early as we expect them to go quickly. If you do need something even a little larger then let us know and we can source it locally for you. We will be selling our beautiful wreaths again this year, and we recommend ordering early to secure the one you want.
We will be open every weekend 10am to 4pm from 16/17 November until Christmas. Come and select your tree and tell us the day you want it cut for collection and enjoy a warming mulled wine and mince pie while you choose.
We look forward to seeing you soon.
David and Rob
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A very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New Year to all our customers and friends.
Thank you for supporting us in 2018 and we look forward to serving you in 2019.
Rob & David

Thank you to all our customers who have helped make this year a tremendous success for us.
However not all was excellent as we were upset to hear that a small number of our customers have had the annoying experience of aphids hatching on their trees when they were brought into the house. The eggs are hard to see and were missed when cutting and netting the trees. Aphids are harmless and can be killed by the use of any proprietary bug killer for indoor plants. Usually one tre...atment is enough and should work within 48 hours. Then vacuum up the bodies. If practical or there are young children or pets around you might wish to take the tree to the garage for the treatment.
We do treat our trees during the year for aphids but also try to limit the amount of pesticides we use, so unfortunately one or two may slip through and lay their eggs ready for them to hatch out in the warmth of someones house. This is the first year we have experienced this issue so will have to be even more vigilant next year.
If you have had a problem with one of our trees please contact us directly, preferably including a photo and your invoice number.
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We're Opening at Last!
We open at 10am next Saturday and Sunday (17/18 Nov) and we’ve been busy making everything ready for you.
A couple of weeks ago we extended the car park and made hard standing around the cabin, which has proved its worth in the recent heavy rains. Yesterday we put up and decorated our own tree. We also went around the area putting up our banners and road signs, which we hope you have all seen. Today David has just about finished mowing the grass betw...een the trees and Rob got in stocks of mulled wine and mince pies for the adults and sweets for the children.
That just leaves Rob to collect some our sample wreaths to display before a final tidy of the cabin before you all arrive. The forecast looks good for the weekend, sunny and dry, but cool: ideal weather to select your tree - plus perhaps a wreath- followed by a warming mulled wine.
If we don’t see you this weekend we have plenty of trees to go round so we look forward to serving you on one of the following weekends.
And just a reminder, we do take credit and debit cards.
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I was just driving into our village of Wootton Rivers today and thought once again how lovely the autumn colours are this year. This time, rather than driving on, I stopped to take a photograph, wishing that I had chosen a few days ago when there were more leaves and the sun was out to show the colours at their best.
I was on my way to join David for our interview with Sue Kinnear from BBC Radio Wiltshire for her programme “Wild about Wiltshire”. We walked through the field discussing all aspects of the business and the trees and explaining what makes it so worthwhile to be in the Christmas Tree business. All being well you will be able to hear us at 7:00pm next Wednesday 14 November, with I believe repeat on Sunday 18th November.

Christmas is less than 50 days away!
Yes that came as a shock to us as well. We're becoming busier each day getting things prepared for our first open weekend on 17 & 18 November. (10am to 4pm, and then the same times every weekend until Christmas)
Yesterday morning we arranged with a talented local lady to supply us with a selection of wreaths for sale (as shown in the pictures). In the afternoon we erected our new waterproof gazebo where we will be serving the mulled win...e and mince pies to all our customers. It's red and looked really good (both the gazebo and the mulled wine!).
Today we were to be interviewed by Marlborough-on-line for an article on their website but the rain put paid to that. We wanted a bright sunny day for the photos so the trees looked their best. Anyway we've arranged that for next week. Talking about rain we have also extended the hard standing so it won't get so boggy as last year.
It's probably worth reminding you that if it is wet then the grass will be wet and the trees also, so wear suitable clothing. We do have a few ponchos for those who forget, but they are limited.
That's all for now, we look forward to seeing you. Don't forget the old saying "the early bird catches the best Christmas Tree"
Rob
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Christmas Opening Times
We have confirmed our opening times for Christmas 2018. These are 10am to 4pm on the following Saturdays and Sundays:
17 & 18 November, ... 24 & 25 November 1 & 2 December 8 & 9 December 15 & 16 December 22 December.
Our trees are all tagged and ready for you to choose as you can see in the photograph. We have Nordmann fir from 4ft up to 8ft trees, prices from £25 to £60 and some Norway Spruce, all at £25.
Come along to look and choose and then either take the tree with you or tell us when you want to collect. There will be complimentary mulled wine and mince pies and sweets for the children.
We look forward to seeing you. Please remember that if it has been raining the trees will be wet and the ground muddy so wear appropriate clothing and footwear.
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Christmas is Coming!!
Yes We're already starting preparations in the office, ordering the advertising and sales promotional stuff. The trees have put on good growth this year, the drought does not seem to have affected them and they're looking good. We've plenty of trees growing in the field up to 2m with some up to 2.5m for those of you that require a larger tree.
In the pictures we show our year starting with snow and then in March we did an extensive prune of the base ...branches of our younger trees to establish a clean trunk. After the growth period of May and June our trees looked good in July under the blue skies and in August after a few showers they looked even better, despite the grey skies. We have now spent some time shaping and selecting trees ready for sale, although we have quite a lot more to do before we see you in November and December.
Our open days and times are similar to last year i.e. 10am to 4pm Saturdays and Sundays from mid November to Christmas. Dates for 2018 are 17 & 18 Nov, 24 & 25 Nov, 1 & 2 Dec, 8 & 9 Dec, 1 &16 Dec and 22 Dec. Complimentary mince pies, mulled wine and sweets will be the usual added treat for our customers.
We look forward to seeing you.
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Thank you to all our customers who helped make this a very successful Christmas for us. We hope you are enjoying your tree and it looks as beautiful in the house as it did in our field. With Our very best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a Healthy and Peaceful New Year. Rob & David

Did you hear Rob on BBC Radio Wiltshire talking about our Christmas Trees. He is was interviewed by James Thomas on Monday and is on his afternoon show every day this week at about 15:30.
Last weekend went really well and we expect to be even busier again this Saturday and Sunday coming. We have plenty of our own trees left and we also collect our bigger trees this Friday, ready for sale on Saturday. As usual "the early bird catches the worm" or in this case the tree of their... choice.
More stocks of mulled wine and mince pies have been purchased to help you choose your ideal tree and also to help combat the cold promised for this weekend. Saturday looks the best day with sun expected for most of the day, whereas Sunday's forecast is for a cloudy and dry start turning wetter later in the afternoon. But this is England so you never know!
We look forward to seeing you.
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