Castle Hedingham couple's Christmas tree now the size of a house

Gordon and Jackie Hunter first planted their now-enormous Christmas tree 13 years ago in 2010 when they first moved to Castle Hedingham from Gosfield.

Standing at just 2ft tall when first arriving outside their home in Nunnery Street, the tree has now become a village attraction each year.

The couple's tree is now the size of their house (Image: Public)

“It was never the goal to make it this big, every year it just kept growing,” said Jackie.

“But so many took interest, so we felt obliged to keep decorating it every year.

“The tree is a favourite of the village and people always comment to us when putting the lights up that they wait all year to see it and when it’s lit they know Christmas has arrived.”

Jackie’s hardworking husband Gordon takes on the ever increasing challenge of putting up the thousands of lights on the tree each year.

This year it will be covered in a total of 12,850 lights plus a star on the top, lit up by a whopping 38 plugs.

Jackie’s husband Gordon who decorates the tree each year (Image: Public)

The tree is now the size of the house and is covered in thousands of lights (Image: Public)

Jackie said: “My husband has got all the staging, and every year painstakingly puts lights on the tree and, which has got harder as it has grown and we add more lights.

“Weather permitting it takes him a good week to put the lights on.

“But this year may be the last year as it’s getting harder and harder to put the lights on as it is so big.”

The couple will be switching on the lights on December 1 to begin the holiday season.

The tree switched on last year (Image: Public)

“We are keeping it quite low-key,” said Jackie.

“We were going to do a bit of a charity event in line with the switch-on and have thought about it every year but to be honest just haven’t got round to it.

“Last year was really nice, as we had a friend come down from Kent who was seriously ill and believed it would be his last Christmas to switch the lights on.

“They can’t make it this year but we will be sure to send photos, as, I if I do say so myself, it’s beautiful.”