Fellgate Firs · Kendal · Established 1981
Trees cut the day
you take them home
A family plantation on the Crosthwaite road outside Kendal. Everything here was planted here — walk the rows, pick the one you want, and we will cut it while you wait.
- Open
- 29 Nov – 23 Dec
- Trees from
- £26
- Booking
- None needed
- Time on site
- About half an hour
Forty-five years on one hillside
A tree cut in October has been out of the ground eight weeks before you buy it
We do not buy in trees from Denmark and stand them in a car park. The tree you choose is in the ground until you choose it, and it is cut, netted and carried to your car in about ten minutes.
That is the whole difference, and it is why a tree from here is still drinking in January. No amount of watering brings back one that has spent two months on a lorry.
What we grow
Three firs and a barn full of greenery
Four things, and we will tell you which one is wrong for you. The price is for the tree cut, netted and carried to the car — there is nothing added at the gate.
£38 – £110
4ft to 12ft
Nordmann Fir
The one almost everybody wants. Soft, deep green, and it holds its needles until well past Twelfth Night.
- Needle hold
- 5 weeks plus
- Scent
- Light
- Years to 6ft
- Eight
- Best for
- Almost everyone
£26 – £62
4ft to 10ft
Norway Spruce
The traditional one, and the one that actually smells of Christmas. It will drop, and we will tell you how to slow it down.
- Needle hold
- 2–3 weeks
- Scent
- Strong
- Years to 6ft
- Six
- Best for
- Late buyers
£46 – £128
4ft to 9ft
Fraser Fir
Narrow, dense and strongly scented. The one to buy if the corner you have in mind is not as big as you would like.
- Needle hold
- 4–5 weeks
- Scent
- Strong
- Footprint
- Narrow
- Best for
- Small rooms
£24 – £68
10in to 24in
Wreaths & Greenery
Made in the barn from what we cut that morning — door wreaths, garlands, table centres and loose foliage by the armful.
- Base
- Moss, not foam
- Standard 14in
- £34
- Made to order
- 3 days
- Loose foliage
- £6 an armful
How it works
Four steps, about half an hour
No appointment, no timed entry and no wristbands. Park in the top field and walk in.
Come and look
No appointment. Park in the top field, take a saw and a barrow from the shed, and walk the rows for as long as you like.
Pick your tree
Every tree carries a height tag and a price. We will bring a pole over and hold it up against your ceiling height if you are not sure.
We cut and net it
Cut to order in about four minutes, netted, and carried to your car. Bring rope or string; we have both if you forget.
Get it home right
Cut an inch off the bottom before it goes in water and keep the stand topped up daily. That is the whole secret.
Straight answers
Which one should you actually buy?
The honest comparison, including the part that loses us money on the spruce.
| Characteristic | Nordmann | Norway | Fraser |
|---|---|---|---|
| Needle hold | 5 weeks + | 2–3 weeks | 4–5 weeks |
| Scent | Light | Strong | Strong |
| Needles | Soft | Sharp | Soft |
| Footprint | Wide | Medium | Narrow |
| Years to 6ft | Eight | Six | Nine |
| From | £38 | £26 | £46 |
- Small children, or a catNordmann. Soft needles, and it will not shed into the carpet.
- You want it to smell of ChristmasNorway spruce, bought late. It drops — we are not pretending otherwise, and it is what most of us have at home.
- The corner is narrower than you would likeFraser. Same height, much less width, and the branches turn up so heavy baubles hang clear.
- You are putting it up on 1 DecemberNordmann or Fraser. A spruce will not make five weeks in a warm room and we would rather say so now.
Prices
What a tree costs, by height
The price on the tag is the price you pay. Cutting, netting and carrying to the car are all included, and we do not charge for the saw.
| Height | Nordmann | Norway spruce | Fraser |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4ft – 5ft | £38 | £26 | £46 |
| 5ft – 6ft | £52 | £34 | £62 |
| 6ft – 7ft | £68 | £42 | £82 |
| 7ft – 8ft | £86 | £50 | £104 |
| 8ft – 10ft | £110 | £62 | £128 |
Before you come
Questions we get asked
From the last Saturday in November to 23 December. Weekdays 9am to 4pm, weekends 9am to 4.30pm, and it goes dark at half past three in December so come early. We are shut the rest of the year.
No, and there is nothing to book. Turn up, park in the top field and walk in. The first two weekends are busy between 11 and 2 — before or after that you will have the place mostly to yourself.
Yes. Tag it, pay a £10 deposit, and we will hold it up to two weeks and cut it the day you collect. About a third of our customers do this in the last week of November.
Within fifteen miles of Kendal, £12, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Beyond that we do not, because it stops being worth anybody’s time.
Cut an inch off the base before it goes in water — the resin seals within a couple of hours of cutting and it stops drinking. Then keep the stand full. A 6ft tree drinks about a litre a day for the first week. That is genuinely the whole answer.
Kendal and South Lakeland both run January collections for chipping. Bring it back to us instead if you would rather — we chip everything on site and the chip goes back on the plantation tracks.
No. We finish at 3pm on 23 December, and everything left in the field stays in the field. There is no Christmas Eve bargain hunt, sorry.
Open 29 November – 23 December
Come and walk the rows
Weekdays 9am to 4pm, weekends until 4.30pm. It goes dark at half past three, so come early — and wear boots, because it is a field.