Surrey's Christmas decorators

Above: This house in Black Hills in Chobham is given a pretty effect with lights

Words by Matthew Williams

There was a time when people simply dreamt of a white Christmas each year. Now, however, it has all become far more complicated, with trends in recent years expanding the humble Christmas tree from a natural green centrepiece to a black, pink or even purple work of modern art. With time constraints brought on by work, and the increasing need to impress friends with lavish Christmas parties, it has become difficult to rest on ones laurels. Well, help is at hand.

The Christmas Decorators are, as you’d expect, a company who decorate at Christmas and the enquiries have been coming in thick and fast all year. Their clients include rock and pop stars, TV presenters, Premiership footballers, stars of stage and screen and business people; along with hotels and restaurants. But it is not just the rich and famous who take advantage of their services…

“Our average residential client will probably spend about £2,500 getting some lights and perhaps garlands outside, and a sumptuous tree and staircase garland inside,” says Carolyn Lindsey, the managing director of the Christmas Decorators’ South East office. “Some will spend a little less. Not only do we design and install we also come back after Christmas to take it all down. We then pack it up and store it until next year for free, so no losing the lights somewhere in the attic!”

With such an impressive list of clientele, you’d expect some pretty extravagant requests, and clients do not disappoint. One such enquiry concerned whether the company could decorate a giant redwood in the grounds of a hotel. That’s a 120ft tree for those less aware of forestry; and that is an awful, awful lot of lights.

“A job like that would cost around £5,000 I expect. But really it just wouldn’t be practical to light up such a big tree and the shape of Redwoods doesn’t really suit this too much,” says Carolyn. “The bills don’t cost as much as you might expect. We use low energy light bulbs and so a mile of lights can be run off a single socket.”

You might think that giant redwoods might be the limit of the extravagance, but clients can get everything from fake snow along with their whole house being lit up to Santa Claus paying a visit to their children on Christmas Eve complete with reindeer and presents.

Competitive lighting is a growing trend in the UK. Taking a leaf from the other side of the Atlantic, neighbours try to outdo each other with extravagant shows of Christmas cheer and one-up-manship. Little enclaves of determined Christmas lovers now go to town and illuminate their houses like some yuletide Las Vegas light show.

“We really do believe that we are a one of a kind company. Christmas is what we do; we are as passionate about Christmas in August as we are December,” continues Carolyn. “We can come up with something for pretty much whatever people’s imaginations can concoct – whether traditional or contemporary and all made bespoke to the client’s needs. From Narnia-themed Snow Queen worlds to Dickensian weddings complete with carol singers, plus trees and decorations matching the wedding colour scheme.”

Last year’s major trend was black trees; to the point that the company ran out of the artificial fashionable pines and ended up having to paint one themselves.

“It took three people two days to paint the 12ft ‘black’ tree. But in the end it looked great and the clients were more than satisfied,” explains Carolyn. “There are few things we won’t do to make sure Christmas looks exactly how our clients hope. However, we won’t be tackling holly trees again! A footballer asked us for a holly tree, we felt obliged and said yes, and then promptly regretted it as the holly proceeded to shred our arms. It was impossible!”

This is the first year that the Christmas Decorators have concentrated on Surrey and they hope to be decking out the homes of approximately 20 clients in the area as well as numerous restaurants, racecourses, golf clubs and hotels.

One of the joys of Christmas has always been the discovery as a child and the preserving of those traditions as an adult to remind you of days gone by. But some people just do not have the time and Carolyn and her team are more than happy to add their professional touch to your festive season.

“I suppose part of the reason I enjoy this so much is that growing up as a child my mum always decorated the Christmas tree herself while we were in bed,” says Carolyn. “So this is my revenge of sorts and now I get to decorate at Christmas all the time!”