A garden centre has started selling its Christmas decorations on the hottest day of the year so far.
The weather outside might have been blisteringly hot but the climate inside this Essex garden centre is decisively wintery.
Summerhill’s in Basildon has decided to deck the halls with boughs of holly over five months before December 25th – with the garden centre’s shelves already filled with fake Christmas trees, baubles and Father Christmas figurines.
Meanwhile, the rest of the country has been basking in the heatwave as Brits flock to beaches and parks to make the most of the nice weather – which reached as high as 32C in Kew Southwest London.
However, Summerhill’s manager insists the early decorations are due to high demand which she claims sees some customers travel as far as Scotland to pick up their festive knick-knacks.
Summerhill’s in Basildon (pictured) has decided to deck the halls with boughs of holly over five months before December 25th – with the garden centre’s shelves already filled with fake Christmas trees, baubles and Father Christmas figurines
Christmas trees for sale in a garden centre (stock image). Summerhill’s manager insists the early decorations are due to high demand which she claims sees some customers travel as far as Scotland to pick up their festive knick-knacks
Revellers enjoying the warm Summer weather at Brighton beach. The weather outside might have been blisteringly hot but the climate inside Summerhill’s garden centre is decisively wintery
Charlotte Harrington, the store’s manager, in words reported by The Sun said: ‘For many, many years now, we’ve opened our Christmas department on the August bank holiday.
‘The stock comes in early and we gradually start putting it out on the shop floor. This is just a small fraction of what we have.
‘But our Christmas displays are so spectacular it takes time to get everything set up, so we have to start early.’
The 40-year-old said that the garden centre will keep adding more decorations to its Christmas displays from now until October.
She added that the high demand for their festive products has seen customers ring as early as June and store is already looking at order for Christmas 2025.
Christmas trees and other decorations are traditionally put up on the first day of Advent which is fourth Sunday before Christmas Day and falls on December 1st this year.
However, some people are starting to get in the festive spirit earlier and earlier with many now opting to put up their trees as early as November 1st.
Households are suppose to take down their Christmas decorations by January 6th as superstition claims it is bad luck to leave them up any longer.
