We take a peek inside Northamptonshire's award-winning Christmas Tree farm

When he was 17, Welford Christmas Tree Farm boss Will Miles would take a round trip with his mum to sell what they had grown to their neighbouring villagers.

Now aged 42, he and his wife Ella have 25 acres of land and 50,000 trees growing in the lead up to Christmas day.

Will’s brother also sells turkeys, which, you might argue, makes the Miles family the most festive bunch in Northamptonshire.

The pick-your-own-tree farm has become increasingly popular over the last few years, as customers from far and wide travel to the village to choose from five varieties of tree.

“It’s a proper family-run business,” Will said.

“Its an arable farm basically and I suppose I diversified doing Christmas trees.

“My brother does turkeys and part of the attraction of doing the Christmas trees was to get out of helping him for a few weeks doing the turkeys - it was a horrible job.”

The farm also has a gift shop, arts and crafts sessions and animals, including piglets, for the children to see.

“We’ve got goats, pigs, we had some turkeys and we’ve got some calves,” Will added.

“We had some reindeers for the children too.”

For the last 20 years, Christmas tree growers across the UK have competed to provide a 10ft tree for Number 10 Downing Street and to create a wreath suitable for the front door of the Prime Minister's lodgings.

The annual competition between farmers is held two months before Christmas Day.

Last year, Will came runner-up in Grower of The Year competition but Ella took the crown in the festive wreath category for the third time.

“It was a real privilege,” she said.

This week though, Will and Ella are reflecting on another successful year at Welford Christmas Tree Farm, which provides trees in a variety of heights at different stages in their growth.

"On the busiest weekend there were 36 of us altogether working," Will said. "Including Santa and his elf.”