IT must be the only forest that has run out of trees.

Not a single Christmas tree is left in the New Forest after rangers were overwhelmed by demand.

The Forestry Commission has completely sold out of its entire New Forest stock of 3,000 real trees after customers flocked to its sites in Brockenhurst and Moors Valley Country Park.

They had expected stock to last up until the weekend but found themselves in the grip of a treemendous boom.

And they’re not alone.

The run on pines and firs has been felt at garden centres and nurseries across Hampshire and artificial trees and festive decorations are also flying off the shelves.

F o r e s t r y Commission head ranger Andrew Norris said the demand this year is down to families looking to buy an ecologically friendly tree.

“Our sites are all checked to make sure our trees are sustainably grown, and this year more and more of our customers have told us that accountability is important to them,” he said.

“We know that this early sell out will be disappointing for many of our regular customers who make buying a Forestry Commission tree a part of their family Christmas and we can only apologise to them for a situation which is entirely beyond our control.”

Julian Winfield, chief executive of Haskins, said people had been flocking to their West End garden centre for trees.

“We sell high quality trees and have a good stock of them left for this weekend but we have seen a big interest in artificial trees which are becoming more and more realistic,”

he said.

Stephen Little, from B&Q in Portswood Road, said: “Real trees have been selling fast but we still have plenty in stock.

Artificial trees have also been selling fast though and customers are buying loads more decorations. There has definitely been a rise in sales since this time last year,” he said.

Homebase also said it still has stocks of real Christmas trees ahead of the final shopping weekend before Christmas.

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