Ottery St Mary's Christmas Tree Festival is now open at the Parish Church.

Several local groups and organisations have decorated trees for the annual display.

The church will be open for visitors to see the trees between 11am and 5pm today (Wednesday, November 22) and on Thursday. On Friday it will be open until 8pm for the Festive Cheer late night shopping event, and on Saturday the hours will be 11am to 5pm again. Refreshments will be available during opening hours.

Sidmouth Herald: The Friends of Ottery St Mary Parish Church who organise the festival and will be serving

The children’s choir Bright Stars will be entertaining visitors at 4pm on Thursday and the church choir will be singing on Friday evening. There will also be a mini Christmas market in the churchyard on Friday evening.

Find out about other Christmas events in the area here:

The Rev Lydia Cook said: “It is lovely as a church to be able to welcome so many from our community into the building for this special time and season. 

"Thank you to the Friends of Ottery St Mary church who organise the event and thank you to all those who decorate their trees; our town businesses, groups, uniformed organisations as well as some individuals.  The variety, ingenuity and creativity are always a joy to see.

"There is so much symbolism in our tradition of decorating trees: we take evergreens - a reminder of how nature endures even in the darkest times - and we add lights to remind ourselves that Christ came into the world to be a light to us all. 

"Decorations tell us so much of the character of the person or group decorating the tree -sophisticated, humble, shop-bought and homemade, subtle or over-the-top.  What a wonderful variety of ways because God created a wonderful variety of people.”