Honouring their mother’s English traditions, a NSW family haws established a Christmas tree farm selling authentic, vibrant pine trees at the same time as raising funds for local community groups.
If it weren’t for Christine Duver’s unwavering commitment to having a “real” Christmas tree, her daughter, Kim, and son-in-law, Rob Sizer, might never have established Hillview Christmas Tree farm at Dungowan, near Tamworth in the NSW New England region. As Christine’s husband, Wayne, tells the story, he and Christine returned to Australia after 20 years living and working on her family farm in her home county of Norfolk. They bought a farm at Coffs Harbour on the NSW Mid North Coast. “Having never had a fake Christmas tree in her life, Christine wasn’t about to start just because we’d moved to Australia,” Wayne recalls. When she came home with what could only be described as an overpriced twig, Wayne saw a gap in the market and, shortly after, they planted the first pine trees in what would become North Coast Christmas Tree farm. Their first planting of 1000 trees was quickly supplemented by more and with judicious care and pruning, Christine, who retrained as an agriculture teacher, finally had a decent “real” tree to mark the festive seasons.
Meanwhile, Kim, who’d gone to school and then uni in Armidale, where she studied agronomy, moved to Gunnedah for work, and met and married Rob, who’d grown up in Deniliquin in the Riverina, and was working as a farm business analyst. In his “spare” time, Rob started a metalwork business, Custom Cutting Studio, in their garage, making laser-cut personalised farm and house signs, sculptures, firepits and garden art. His side hustle quickly outgrew his day job, and with daughter Izzy, now five, a toddler, and Oscar, now three, a baby, Rob and Kim went looking for land with space for a bigger shed. They found what they were looking for in a 360-acre (145-hectare) block at Dungowan, with 100 acres (40ha) of river flat beside the Peel River for growing hay. Sadly, Christine passed away from cancer at the same time, and Wayne also decided to sell the farm and retire to the Tamworth district. With good soil and plenty of water, it was an obvious decision to honour Christine’s legacy and, soon after arriving, Rob and Kim planted Hillview’s first pine forest. “There’s no textbook for growing Christmas trees,” Kim says. “However, we’re in the fortunate position of having the benefit of Dad’s experience, alongside our own expertise. We knew from the outset that we wanted to go big and we now have 27,000 trees planted to enable us to harvest 4000 trees a year.”
When Australian Country visited the Sizers, they were preparing for their first cutting season. The immaculately maintained hillsides of their property were lined with countless rows of pines, all drip-fed with water from the river and carefully nurtured to deliver the bushiest possible traditional form. The clients order via our website, the charities provide the volunteers to check names off lists and supervise the distribution from a carpark or other accessible spot. At the end, we make one deposit of all the funds into the charity’s account. We want to keep our business local, so we might as well benefit local organisations.” Hillview trees come in three sizes — small (1.5m-1.8m), medium (1.8m–2.1m) and large (2.1m-2.4m). Rob points out the average home ceiling is 2.4m, so customers would be advised to check that the tree will fit before they order. With quality their utmost priority, they’re aiming to harvest and net their trees on the day of sale, ensuring the tree will last until the all-important day.
“Our trees will be good for three to four weeks,” Kim says. “But if you look after them properly, they could stay fresh for longer. You need to treat them like cut flowers. Keep the water up to them as a tree can consume up to a litre a day, and retrim the stump so it can keep wicking water.” Meanwhile, Izzy and Oscar are thriving on country life, attending a local preschool run by the CWA and enjoying space to run free and play on the farm. They enjoy running between the pine rows and already are experienced hands at decorating a tree. “They’re a bit young just yet to understand that having a tree is a once a-year event for most families,” Kim says. “For now, it’s Christmas every day.”
