A tree clipped in the shape of a giant Christmas pudding has been unveiled — with a giant ROBIN perched on top.
Roger and Valerie Holley created a 20ft-high conifer – complete with lashings of cream, huge holly leaves and big red berries – that looks good enough to eat.
It took the Holleys six years to prune the evergreen into the perfectly round shape it is today and just a fortnight to create the huge robin which sits on tops of it eating a berry.
This year the resourceful couple have even perched a few baby robins on top of their masterpiece.
The tree has now become a much-loved local landmark in the front garden of their three-bedroom detached home in Yeovil, Somerset.
Grandfather-of-three Roger, 62, said: ”We are really proud of our Christmas pudding and robin.
”The robin has had a few babies this year – it has taken a lot of work to make it look this good, but the effort was worth it.
”The tree is still a real favourite with the neighbours. They kids us about it but I think they really look forward to seeing it every Christmas.
”The local schoolchildren just love it as well.
”It’s become something of a local phenomenon among residents – who say it looks good enough to eat.
”We have been displaying the pudding each year since it was created so this year we wanted to make it look a bit different and the robin certainly makes it stand out.
”My wife came up with the idea of having the robin sit on top of it eating a berry so we got to work and made the bird using a 65ml gym ball.”
The incredible pudding is made up of two 26-year-old conifers which Roger merged together to make a ‘single’ tree.
Roger and Valerie, both keen gardeners, began pruning the tree into its round shape five years ago.
They spent hours every summer intertwining its boughs and trimming its tips to give it the cylindrical shape.
In contrast the Robin that sits on top was made in just a fortnight using a gym ball for its body, golf balls for its eyes, a light bulb and fibre glass for the red chest and carpet to create the look of feathers.
Retired Roger, who worked at nearby Yeovil District Hospital, said he was given the idea to create his Christmas masterpiece by his 12-year-old granddaughter.
Father-of-two Roger said: ”She took one look at the tree and said ‘That looks like a massive Christmas pudding!’.
”So we decided to take things a bit further and decorate it appropriately. Little did we know that it would become something of a tradition.”
Each year Roger transforms the tree into the Christmas pud by balancing an old car tyre on the top of the tree which he uses as a base.
Under this he slides two 3ft-long painted plywood leaves, before tying four red plastic ballcock berries to the wheel.
He then uses diluted white emulsion paint for the cream, which he sprays on using a hand-held gun.
The entire creation is lit-up at night using specially adapted Christmas tree lights which he slots into the berries and the leaves.
Valerie, 66, a retired housewife, said: ”It really is an unusual sight to see in a front garden.
”We have the Christmas pudding out there each year and his year we gave the robin a few friends.
”I love robins and we have a few nests in our garden so it seemed fitting.
”But to see the children’s faces as they walk past it is a real treat. It’s our present to the community.”
