‘And you’ll need to wrap up,’ she advised, ‘because it’s freezing and you’ll need gloves too. We’re shifting a lot of trees.’

‘Already? It’s only November.’

‘I know,’ she said, backing out again. ‘Ned doesn’t really like letting cut trees go so early because they’ll be past their best by Christmas, but we can’t turn business away, can we?’

‘I suppose not,’ I said, as she disappeared again.

I got suitably togged up and made my way through the busy yard. I could hear a chainsaw at work in the distance and it triggered a plethora of memories. Dad had always insisted on decorating the lodge early, but the tree didn’t come inside until the second weekend of December, even though it was well hydrated and in a pot.

It had so much care lavished on it, it must have felt thoroughly spoilt and I hoped the trees I could see Liam feeding through the netting machine received the same level of attention now they were poised to fulfil their festive destiny.

‘This netting is completely biodegradable and therefore environmentally friendly,’ I listened to him explain to the family who were waiting for their tree. ‘Which is of course completely in line with Mr Wynter’s original vision for the plantation.’

He looked at me and grinned, before loading the tree back into the sleigh it had been pulled out of the plantation on and checking the receipt the eldest child held up and which confirmed that David, manning the till in the barn, had been paid.

‘Merry Christmas,’ Liam said, also remembering to hand over the Wynter’s Tree care sheet. ‘See you next year.’

‘You sound like a total pro,’ I told him as the family returned his kind words and wandered off. ‘I had no idea the netting was eco-friendly.’

‘Yep,’ he said, patting the machine. ‘Ned told me all about it this morning when he trained me on how to use it. Do you know where Maya’s got to? She was helping shift the trees and ferrying the left carts back from the car park.’

‘She’s working in one of the huts now,’ I explained. ‘So, I’m taking on her jobs.’

‘You’d better go and find Ned then,’ he said, ‘there’s probably loads more trees that need moving by now.’

‘Yes, sir,’ I grinned with a mock salute, before marching off.

More often than not, the people buying the trees liked to pull them out of the plantation themselves, but that wasn’t always the case and sure enough there were a couple of people waiting for assistance after I’d followed my ears and found Ned.

‘Where’s Maya?’ he frowned, once he’d turned off the chainsaw.