Boston Road Christmas Trees: Meet the grandson of a German migrant who now grows Christmas trees near Wetherby

It’s the home of the Ziegler family and the base for their mainly arable farming enterprise of 320 acres, which included land rented ‘over the road’ at Grange Farm where Wetherby Show used to be held.

Peter Ziegler, who was the last president of Wetherby Show and auctioneer and valuer at Wetherby Livestock Market until it closed in October 2000, said he bought Sweep Farm in 1986.

“It was sold by my fellow auctioneer colleague Paul Johnson of Boroughbridge at Wetherby Town Hall. I don’t think anybody knew I would be bidding, but I sneaked in and ended up buying it in two lots as part of it belonged to Evans Development. The architect Harry Webster owned this one (Sweep) and rented where the motel is today. I then bought 34 acres on the Ings near the golf course and some land at Copmanthorpe.

“We are all arable now, but I’ve always liked livestock and we had cattle and sheep. We came out of livestock when we sold our then 207-head of cattle in Selby livestock market in 2007. We still have stock on the farm with heifers on a bed and breakfast basis for dairy farmer Richard Danforth and sheep for John Rangeley.

Peter said his arable cropping is across 275 acres and his main crops for 2023 will be wheat, barley and oilseed rape.

“We are trying rape again this year. We had stopped growing it as we lost 60 acres to flea beetle one year. We grew winter oats instead, but this year we direct drilled into stubble early and hopefully it will do well.

“We did very well on yields this year. This isn’t really a wheat farm because it is on limestone, but we averaged 4 tonnes per acre across 70 acres where we normally get 3.5 tonnes. The winter oats, winter barley and spring barley all performed well and we grew grass for Whitakers, the racehorse trainers, and for Richard Danforth.

Sweep Farm is establishing a more public-based reputation for sales of Christmas trees and everything else Christmas oriented and it is Peter’s two sons Will and Ed who are behind the business that will eventually see them selling their own trees.

Will said the growing of Christmas trees was a long-term project but that his involvement in everything Christmas is now a long-established history.

“We only planted our first trees in 2020 but I have been involved in the Christmas world since 2001, initially when I lived up in Scotland and since 2010 back here. We were giftware wholesalers and did a lot of Christmas wholesale, but after customers took their orders in September and October it meant November and December were quite quiet months.

“I had supplied quite a few Christmas tree farms and thought we should have a go at selling trees and other Christmas decorations or gifts. We started five years ago.

“I’m good friends with Martin Noble who has Woolley Edge Christmas Trees and he’s helped us. Our trees come through him from Dumfries & Galloway and Inverness.

“We started off selling 230 in our first year and now we’re at just over 1000. Martin is in a different league, but he has helped us with our longer-term goal of selling our own trees in six years’ time.

Will said that growing Christmas trees was an eye opener.

“They are very labour intensive, not as simple as some might think, that you just stick them in the ground and all is perfect.

“Ed and I planted them, all Nordmann Fir with Martin’s help. We were sat in the back planting them as he drove at the start of lockdown when it was the hottest, driest May on record. Ed and I hand-watered them every day and amazingly out of 1000 planted we only lost 5.

“They are really quite hardy once established but we’ve a long way to go before we can start telling customers we are selling our own homegrown trees.

In the meantime, Will said Boston Road Christmas Trees is building a solid reputation for its stock of trees and as a Christmas destination.

“What customers see is our trade fair stand that we take to places like the NEC in Birmingham and to Harrogate. We also have perhaps one of the cheapest barn rents you can have, from dad. A Christmas tree.

“Customers are buying Christmas trees earlier than ever. It always used to be from the first weekend of December with last weekend and this weekend traditionally the biggest weekends for sales. We sold our first on November 24.

“One thing that might make a difference to their longevity this year is that people might not have turned on their central heating just yet.

Will sees part of Sweep Farm’s future in utilising other buildings on the farm, capitalising on their location.

“We have a few little businesses based here already including dog grooming, doggy day care, and Hue Interiors run by our brother-in-law Tom Daykin.

“We have plans drawn up to convert some of the smaller buildings to light industrial units.

Will said he also sees potential for expansion into other farm-based sectors that will attract greater farm visitors in future.

“We are talking about growing pumpkins. We are now established as a Christmas tree shop, somewhere customers like to come for a festive experience.

“Pumpkins would extend our season. We are looking at making more use of our perfect position and exploiting the advantages we have.

The Ziegler name doesn’t sound particularly Yorkshire-oriented. Peter said it was down to his grandfather George Frederick Ziegler coming over from Germany in 1899.

“My grandfather was the eldest son of five siblings. His mother had died and he didn’t get on with his step-mother. He was the eldest and would have inherited the farm near Stuttgart.

“He started working for a butcher in Grimsby and when the owner decided to retire grandfather bought the business. He ended up with two shops in Wakefield and a shop at Newton Hill near Wakefield where he had a slaughterhouse. In 1938 he formed Farm Stores at Outwood, which distributed to shops in the north of England.

“My father William Albert died in 1958 at 44 years old when I was just 7. He became chairman of Craven Dairies that along with many others became Associated Dairies and then ASDA. He had lung cancer. He used to go to the cattle markets buying stock, he was a ‘60 fags on one match’ man.

Peter’s partner is Catherine. He has two daughters Rachel and Kate and 11 grandchildren. He has one full-time farm man Chris Thompson. Sweep Farm is also the home of the Scarcroft & District Annual Ploughing Match.

Peter said he’s not certain about the role he keeps getting asked to play.

“They want me to wear a red suit. Ho Ho!