Dartmouth
Connections
Chris Varlow
Director of Gardentime, Sponsor of the
Dartmouth Christmas Tree
When did you get involved in Dartmouth’s Christmas Is Christmas a busy time for you?
celebrations?
Everyone here loves Christmas because it is calm
For five years we have sponsored and organised the compared to the rest of the year – all we have to do is
provision of the big Christmas tree that stands beside sell Christmas trees and we play carols, dress up, serve
the fountain in the centre of Dartmouth, in conjunction chestnuts, mince pies and mulled wine, and generally
with Dartmouth Town Council. have a good time helping the customers choose the
We’re familiar with Blue Peter’s annual coverage of
perfect tree. It’s a tremendous potential source of family
the arrival of Trafalgar Square’s Christmas tree from
arguments and I have sent couples to the restaurant for
Norway. Does the Dartmouth tree have a similar
time out and a coffee on the house because they have
journey?
been arguing so badly over which tree to choose. We
sell more than 1,300 trees a year – when we started six
ell, likW e the London tree ours is a Norway spruce, but a
years ago it was 200.
little smaller at 30ft. It grows on the edge of Dartmoor
and will be at least 30 years old – they grow about a
Do you have any other Christmas projects on the go?
foot a year. We go out there to inspect the trees and For the first time this year we had a Christmas craft fair
check their progress through the year and have two or to raise money for the Dartmouth Rotary Shelter Box,
three possibles marked out for each of the next few and we sponsor the Christmas tree festival at Stoke
years. Fleming Parish Church which is beautiful – a tree on
How do you choose the tree that will stand at the
the end of every pew and all of them decorated by
heart of Dartmouth’s Christmas celebrations?
different local groups and businesses. It gets terribly
competitive with all of us trying to out-do each other.
e look fW or something that is symmetrical – that’s the
Our theme this year is sweets and our tree will be
main thing. It also has to be nice and heavy and full
absolutely covered in them.
because it has to take some pretty hefty Christmas lights
– it has to be pretty chunky.
Do you have any Christmas wishes?
How long does it take to get here?
I must wish a special thankyou to Matthew Perkins. He
does all our Christmas displays, helps with the delivery
The tree is always cut on the day of delivery. I go out
of the big tree and delivers 400-500 Christmas trees
to help cut the tree down and drag it out of the field
to our customers as far away as Brixham, Kingsbridge,
with a tractor. Then we winch it on to a big trailer, lash
Totnes and Paignton. He has a big van and will be flying
it down and off we go keeping our fingers crossed all
around to make sure everyone gets their tree in time.
the way that we don’t break it. It is a perilous journey –
We couldn’t do Christmas without him!
even the main roads to Dartmouth are quite twisty and
precarious.
How do you celebrate Christmas? Or are you sick of
What happens next?
it by the time it arrives?
I love Chrismas! We have a great time at work in the run
When we get to the town centre we roll it off the trailer
up to Christmas, but when we finish work on Christmas
and it lies like a beached whale in the road. Then we
Eve my wife Philippa and I jump in the car and head
rope in as many passers by as possible to help position
home to Mousehole in Cornwall where I grew up. We
the tree and lend a hand. We usually find people drop
have a lovely family Christmas there. Mousehole is
their shopping and dash over to pitch in. The tree stands
beautiful at Christmas with lights all around the harbour
in a big hole in the ground and is chocked into place –
made from children’s coloured buckets and its own
it’s quite a task to make sure it doesn’t move or lean!
Christmas legends and traditions.
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