'Christmas isn't cancelled!' Northamptonshire farm opens up its fields for annual sale of Christmas trees

A popular Northampton farm known for selling Christmas trees in the run-up to the festive season has confirmed it will be opening its fields during the COVID pandemic.

Smiths Farm Shop has been inundated with customers eager to find out whether the family-run business will be selling them as usual.

Christmas trees go on sale this weekend on Saturday, November 28 and will continue to be available until Christmas Eve.

No appointments are necessary to visit and social distancing measures are in place at the farm. A traffic light system has also been put up outside the shop to keep numbers inside to a minimum.

Proprietor of the farm shop, Adrian Smith said: “Christmas is not cancelled at Smiths. As usual, we’ll have trees out in our fields and in the marquee. We’ll be keeping an eye on numbers and if we start to get busy we’ll restrict more people from coming in as we want to ensure everyone is safe.”

With people opting to put their Christmas decorations up early, Adrian is anticipating being busier this year, but he is urging customers to hold off putting their tree up earlier than they normally would.

He said: “We know people are keen to kick start their Christmas and bring some much-needed joy to 2020, but if you put your tree up too early it won’t look its best for the big day.

“Real trees are not the same as artificial ones. We recommend taking your tree home and looking after it in a bucket of water in the garden for a while to help extend its life for as long as possible.

“I’ve ordered in extra this year and we won’t be running out any time soon, so there’s no need to panic. We will have big ones, small ones and everything in between at all different prices to suit all budgets.”

Face coverings must be worn when shopping indoors and customers are being urged to avoid shopping at busy times from between 10am and 3pm at weekends.

Smiths Farm has two shops which are located in Brampton and Billing. They family-run business was founded in 1958 and has continued to evolve and move with the times since then.

Now, the business prides itself on offering a great diversity of product lines, while remaining true to the family heritage and core beliefs.