Trust's 147ft tree sets Christmas world record
BBCA giant redwood growing at a National Trust property has officially been declared as the world's tallest living Christmas tree.
The 44.7m (147ft) tree at Cragside in Northumberland is more than twice the size of the Angel of the North and was planted in the 1860s.
To be counted as a Christmas tree by the Guinness team, it needed two types of decorations on it. So, the redwood was decorated with more than 1,300 Christmas lights and two giant purple bows, the National Trust said.
Guinness World Records adjudicator Carl Saville said: "It was a privilege to give this tree the recognition it deserves."
A National Trust spokesperson said the redwood was decorated using a cherry-picker and took three people two days to hang the lights.
"Every bulb is meticulously checked and then draped and fastened vertically so as not to put too much pressure on the tree," they said.
National TrustLast year, the estate unveiled the UK's talling living Christmas tree.
"We kept wondering if we could go one giant leap further and secure a Guinness World Records title...and we made it," Cragside official Steve Howard said.
Mr Howard said it had been tough keeping the world record a secret over the past few weeks.
"We wanted to share our huge news while many people are putting up their own Christmas trees," he said.
It is understood that this is a brand new record.
The record for the tallest ever Christmas tree belongs to a tree put up in Seattle in the US at Northgate Shopping Center in 1950.
That tree, which was not bedded into the ground as Cragside's is, was 64.6m (212ft) tall.
