Bishops Offley Christmas Trees from Staffordshire have won the accolade of providing the Christmas tree for Downing Street after being crowned Champion Christmas Tree Grower of the Year 2022.
The winner of "Champion Festive Wreath" is Santa Trees from Cornwall and they will provide the wreath for the door of the Prime Minister’s residence.
Organised by the British Christmas Tree Growers Association (BCTGA), the annual competition has been running since 1999.
Russell and Liz Stanhope from Bishops Offley Christmas Trees said they were stunned by the win which is a first for the growers who said: “We are absolutely over the moon and very proud to win Champion Grower, we still can’t believe it! "
TV presenter Jules Hudson was a special guest for this year’s competition and selected a Nordmann Fir grown by York Christmas Trees as his favourite tree for a new Celebrity Choice Award. Another new award for 2022, was the Innovation Award sponsored by Professional Sprayers People which was won by Hortifeeds, Lincolnshire, for its HortiHydrate Bio.
The event took place at Gower Fresh Christmas Trees in Swansea and was kindly sponsored by ICL, leading growing media and fertiliser manufacturers.
Heather Parry, Managing Agent for BCTGA, said: “Today we have seen the best Christmas trees in Britain coming together under one roof and our annual competition gets bigger every year. Congratulations to all our winners. It really is an absolute credit to their hard work each and every year to take the winning crown for their category. We now look forward to a successful season ahead as more consumers choose a real hand-grown, sustainable tree for their home. The big switch on at Downing Street in December with our champion grower’s tree will really kick start Christmas 2022.”
