At this time of year the more creative among us start making our homes look more festive with wreaths and decorations and that recent import – outdoor Christmas lights.
But few of us will go to the lengths of the staff at Cotehele in Cornwall, a 16th-century National Trust property, where every Christmas for more than 50 years they’ve been making a garland from flowers grown and dried on the estate. Measuring 60 feet, the garland hangs the length of Cotehele’s Great Hall. Fiona Clampin went to meet gardener Vicky Dillon