Northumberland fir picked for Westminster Christmas Tree
A 40-foot Northumbrian Christmas tree from Kielder Forest has been chosen to stand next to Big Ben.
A Christmas Tree from Northumbria has begun a 330-mile trip to London, as it becomes an iconic symbol for the festive season.
Standing at 40 feet tall in Kielder Forest, it has been chosen among 150 million trees by experts from Forestry England to stand alongside Big Ben.
After being carefully cut down, wrapped and loaded without any damage, it is now on its journey to London for the Christmas period.
Forestry England have been providing the Christmas tree to Westminster for over 20 years.
Richard Cooper is the Beat Forester at Forestry England. He said: “We’re immensely proud here and it’s always a special moment.
“It’s nice that a little bit of Northumberland can go down to London, we’re always asking people to visit our forests but now we’re taking a little bit of forest to them”.
The fir tree will stand alongside Westminster in the heart of London from next week, for people from all over the world to admire.
Maddie Parkin from Forestry England cut down this year’s tree. She told us how the tree was chosen:
“It was beautiful and something to show-off to the country outside Big Ben. It is an inspiration”