As the morning slipped by, I realised I had listened to practically every customer telling me a tale about why they loved Wynter’s Trees so much, as well as how they had been coming to the plantation for years. Everyone loved the inclusion of the huts and Sophie and Hope’s menu was proving to be a popular draw too.

‘Ned delivered our tree yesterday,’ one woman told me, as she held up and admired a pair of Wren’s sea-glass earrings. ‘We’ve had the same one for six years and it’s too big to fit in the car now. It was Mr Wynter who set us up with it originally. He greeted us like old friends, right from our very first visit.’

‘That’s really lovely,’ I said, remembering the pride Dad had always taken in knowing the names of all his customers. A trait I’d now seen and appreciated in Ned.

It broke my heart a little though when I worked out that Dad had only given this woman’s family their tree for a couple of years.

‘That personal service and attention to detail is one of the things I love about this place,’ she carried on. ‘And it just keeps getting better and better. The kids still love visiting Santa and my other half is a huge fan of the truck. He had his photo taken next to it the night you first opened.’

‘It’s certainly proving to be a popular feature,’ I agreed.

There hadn’t been a day go by when we were open that I hadn’t seen someone being snapped next to it and I felt pleased that Ned had found such a clever use for it after it had served its time on the road. I’d also noticed that if beautiful Bandit was in the vicinity, he was encouraged to pose too.

‘And now we can shop here and have something to eat, it’s totally worth the journey to get here.’ The woman gushed. ‘I hope you’ll be doing it again next year?’

‘I don’t see why we wouldn’t be,’ I told her.

I couldn’t imagine a single reason why Ned wouldn’t want to carry on with the venture, but as it wasn’t going to be anything to do with me, I didn’t want to sound presumptuous.

‘I’ll take these,’ she said, passing me the smooth green glass earrings. ‘You know, I’d come and shop here throughout the year if the huts were open,’ she carried on. ‘Easter would be a great time to visit. You could have an egg hunt through the plantation!’

‘That’s an excellent idea,’ I told her. ‘I’ll mention it to Ned.’