Chelsea Pensioners Enjoy A Tour Of Duty In Berkshire

A group of Chelsea Pensioners – the retired army veterans who live at the Royal Hospital, famous for their smart red uniforms – have had a surprise tour of duty at Yattendon Estates in Berkshire, inspecting the ranks of the Christmas trees that will soon be raising money for the historic Hospital.

The trip was organized by Capital Christmas Trees, which will be providing freshly harvested trees directly from the estate to be sold in the Royal Hospital’s elegant South Grounds, home of the Chelsea Flower Show on the Embankment.

The Royal Hospital will offer a superb selection of fresh trees from the Royal Berkshire estate, giving London families the chance to pick out their own special tree and know that it’s as fresh as if they had traveled to Yattendon Estates themselves.

This is the first time that the Royal Hospital has sold Christmas trees, and a commission on every sale will help to raise funds for the Grade I-listed hospital, which was commissioned by Charles II and designed by Sir Christopher Wren as a home for elderly or injured soldiers.

The Chelsea Pensioners spent the day as guests of Lord Iliffe, who lives and works at Yattendon Estates. He was a pioneer of the UK Christmas tree industry in the 1970s and has seen the farm operation expand to harvest more than 50,000 trees each year, each of which takes 10 years to grow.

As well as a tour of the plantations, the Pensioners also enjoyed lunch with Lord Iliffe at The Royal Oak in Yattendon.