6ft Real Christmas Trees

Free UK delivery on the date you choose. British grown, cut to order.

The 6ft Christmas tree is the one most British homes want, and it is the one most British homes should buy.

It fits a standard 8ft ceiling with room for the stand and the star. You can reach the top without standing on a chair. It fills a living room without taking it over. If you are not sure what size you need, this is the answer.

Why 6ft is the most popular size

A standard UK ceiling is around 8ft. Take off three to six inches for the stand, and six to nine for the topper, and you have about 7ft of usable height. A 6ft tree sits inside that with room to spare.

Go to 7ft and you are cutting it fine. Go to 8ft and the star bends against the ceiling.

A 6ft tree is also the largest size most people can handle alone. You can put the topper on without a ladder, you can carry it through a door, and you can decorate the whole thing without leaning.

It takes about 600 lights and 60 or so baubles. That is a manageable evening, not a project.

How wide is a 6ft Christmas tree?

About 4ft across at the base.

This is the measurement people forget, and it is the one that causes the trouble. A tree is roughly two thirds as wide as it is tall, so a 6ft tree needs four feet of clear floor. In a normal living room that is a real footprint, and it usually means moving something.

Measure the width of the space before you order, then take a few inches off each side so the branches are not crushed against a wall or a radiator. A squashed tree looks like a squashed tree and no amount of tinsel hides it.

Mark it on the floor with masking tape. Two minutes, and it will tell you more than any diagram.

How we measure a 6ft tree

From the base of the trunk to the leader, which is the vertical shoot at the very top where the star sits.

We do not include the stand and we do not include the topper. So a 6ft tree will stand taller than 6ft once it is up. Plan for that, and remember that not every seller measures the same way, which is why a 6ft tree from one place can look nothing like a 6ft tree from another.

Real or artificial at 6ft?

Search for a 6ft Christmas tree and most of what you find is plastic. It is worth knowing what you are choosing between.

An artificial 6ft tree is PVC and steel, shipped a long way, and it cannot be recycled at the end. You would need to reuse it for about ten years before its footprint matched a real tree bought each year, and most people replace theirs long before that.

A real 6ft tree spent years in the ground absorbing carbon, supporting wildlife and being replaced with a new sapling when it was cut. At the end of Christmas it composts.

It also smells like Christmas, has a shape no factory could design, and does not need eleven months of loft space.

The honest downside is needles, and that is a solvable problem. More on that below. If you already own an artificial tree, keep using it. Throwing it away early is the worst outcome for everyone.

Which 6ft tree should you buy?

6ft Nordmann Fir

The non-drop tree, and the one most people want at this size.

Its needles are thick, waxy and dark green, and that waxy coat holds moisture in. The tree loses water slowly, so the needles stay on the branch. Watered properly, a 6ft Nordmann will hold four to five weeks indoors.

The branches are strong and grow in well-spaced tiers, so they carry heavy glass baubles without bowing and leave room for decorations to hang properly rather than being swallowed by foliage.

The needles are soft and blunt. If you have small children or a dog, or you are the one reaching into the middle to fix a dead bulb, that matters more than you expect.

The trade is scent. A Nordmann barely smells. You are buying needle retention, and at 6ft in a heated living room it is usually the right call.

6ft Norway Spruce

The traditional tree, and the one that actually smells of Christmas.

Classic conical shape, deep forest green, full right down to the trunk. That sharp resinous pine scent fills a whole house in a way nothing else does, and it is the reason people keep buying them.

It drops more than a Nordmann. The needles are thinner and less waxy, so they dry faster. A well kept 6ft Norway Spruce holds about three weeks, so put it up in mid December rather than late November and it will be at its best on the day that counts.

It is also cheaper, because it reaches 6ft in five or six years where a Nordmann takes about ten.

What you need with a 6ft tree

A stand that fits the trunk and holds enough water. A 6ft tree has a trunk of roughly three to four inches across, and it can drink two litres on its first day indoors. A shallow reservoir will run dry overnight and you will not notice until the needles start to go.

The rule of thumb is a litre of water capacity for every inch of trunk diameter, so a 6ft tree wants a stand holding at least four litres.

Our Christmas tree stand has a low, wide reservoir built for real trees, with a screw bolt system and a spill guard for the floor.

Around 600 lights. That is 100 per foot, and most people badly under-light a tree and then wonder why it looks flat. Work them from the trunk outwards rather than wrapping them round the outside, so the light sits inside the tree and gives it depth.

Looking after a 6ft real tree

Saw an inch off the bottom of the trunk before it goes in the stand. Straight across, right before it goes into water.

This is the step everyone skips and it is the one that decides everything. Sap seals across the cut end within hours of harvest, and once sealed the tree cannot take up water at all. The reservoir stays full. The tree dies of thirst anyway.

Get it straight into water, then check the water every single day. If the reservoir runs dry even once, the trunk seals over and the tree stops drinking permanently.

Plain tap water. No sugar, no aspirin, no lemonade. None of it helps and some of it clogs the trunk.

Keep it away from radiators, wood burners and sunny windows. Heat is what kills Christmas trees. A cool corner will buy you two extra weeks for nothing.

More in our guides to keeping your tree fresh and stopping needle drop.

Delivery

Free, anywhere on the UK mainland. You choose the date at checkout.

We cut and pack your tree the working day before it travels, so it arrives fresh rather than having stood on a forecourt for a fortnight. Each tree is netted and loaded into a heavy-duty carrier with a cane inside to hold its shape.

Netted, a 6ft tree goes through a standard doorway without a fight. Cut the netting in the room where the tree will stand, not in the hall.

Deliveries run 8am to 6pm and you do not need to be in. If a tree arrives damaged, tell us and we will replace it free of charge.

More on Christmas tree delivery.

6ft Christmas tree FAQs

Will a 6ft tree fit under an 8ft ceiling?

Yes, comfortably. Allow about a foot for the stand and the star and you still have room.

How wide is a 6ft Christmas tree?

About 4ft at the base. Measure your floor space, not just your ceiling.

How many lights for a 6ft tree?

About 600. Work on 100 per foot of tree.

How many baubles for a 6ft tree?

Around 60 is comfortable, more if they are small. Heaviest near the trunk, lightest at the tips.

Which 6ft tree drops the fewest needles?

The Nordmann Fir. Watered, it holds four to five weeks.

Is the height measured with the stand?

No. We measure trunk base to leader. Add a few inches for the stand.

How long will a 6ft real tree last?

Four to five weeks for a Nordmann Fir, about three for a Norway Spruce, if you cut the trunk and water it daily.

Not sure 6ft is right? See our Christmas tree size guide, or compare the 5ft, 7ft and 8ft trees.