How do you decorate the world's tallest Christmas tree?

8 December 2025

Jason Arunn MurugesuNorth East and Cumbria

News image — You need a very tall cherry picker and a good head for heights

National Trust Drone shot of tall white cherry picker, zoomed in a little so you can almost see the three people in hi-vis suits and hard hats in the cage close to the top of a tall redwood tree. The tree is covered with unlit christmas light bulbs and is surrounded by a forest of other evergreen trees. — You need a very tall cherry picker and a good head for heights

A giant redwood growing at a National Trust property has been officially declared the world's tallest living Christmas tree but, for the record to count, it had to be bedecked with two types of decorations. How do you achieve that on a Christmas tree 20 times the usual height?

Planted in the 1860s, the 147ft (44.7m) tree at Cragside in Northumberland is now more than twice as high as the Angel of the North.

To be counted as a Christmas tree - and not just a large conifer - by the Guinness World Records team, it needed to be adorned with two types of decorations. So, staff at the trust had to hang up more than 1,300 Christmas lights and two giant purple bows.

Trust marketing officer Sheila Rayson said there had been a number of potential problems to consider.

They could not put baubles on the redwood for fear the decorations would blow away in the wind and hit members of the public. Instead, they chose two 6ft (1.8m) bows.

"We even looked at paper stars at one point but they wouldn't weather well," she said.

National Trust Tall redwood in dark covered in multicoloured Christmas lights with several trees surrounding it. The sky is dark blue. — The tree has stood at Cragside since the 1860s - though the lights are newer

The next problem to avoid was a blown bulb ruining the grand switch-on. So, before hanging the lights on the tree, they had to be laid out on the site's driveway and attached to portable power packs to be tested.

"Imagine putting the lights on the tree and finding some are not working metres and metres off the ground," Ms Rayson said.

It then took three people two entire working days to drape the lights on the tree, using a cherry picker to get high enough up.

Ms Rayson said the team had chosen this particular redwood not because it was the tallest tree on the site but because of its location, which was more accessible to the public.

"It's also a beautiful shape," she said. "It really lends itself well to being dressed."

National Trust Drone shot, seen from further away this time, of the tall white cherry picker with three people in orange suits and helmets close to the top of a tall Redwood tree. It is surrounded by thick forest and Cragside House is beyond. — The trust said the tree "lends itself well" to being decorated and was more accessible

The tree’s lights, which are blue, purple and pink, were chosen to reference a lively servants' ball thrown for staff in 1894 by Cragside's founders the Armstrong family.

"It would be have been very vibrant and colourful," Ms Rayson said.

The theme was prompted by the discovery of a small "dance card" - popular at the time as part invitation, part programme and part list of agreed partners for each dance.

The dance card belonged to unknown female servant and would have been used by her fellow servants to reserve a dance with her at the ball.

"We've still got some names written down," Ms Rayson said.