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| © National Trust / Bec Hughes |
The 44.7m (146.6f) giant redwood (Sequoia wellingtonia) is dressed in excess of 1,300 dazzling lights to transform it into a towering festive showstopper standing at more than twice the height of the iconic Angel of the North statue.
It's one of millions of trees planted in the 1860s by the estate’s founders, the Armstrong family, some of which are now the tallest of their kind in the entire country.
Steve Howard, Visitor Operations Manager, told That's Christmas “It’s been quite a year of planning. Last year we presented the UK’s Tallest Living Christmas Tree, and we kept wondering if we could go one giant leap further and secure a Guinness World Records title… and we have made it!”
Steve went on to say: “It’s been a bit tough to keep this big secret under wraps and quiet over the last few weeks, but we wanted to share our huge news while many people are putting up their own Christmas trees.”
Visitors will notice that in addition to the lights, the tree is also dressed in two large purple bows to meet the essential criteria to have two traditional decorations on the Christmas tree.
The tree was officially measured with witnesses present and signed off by a Guinness World Records adjudicator when the tree was dressed last month.
Guinness World Records adjudicator Carl Saville added: “The breathtaking giant redwood, perched on the edge of the hillside, is a vision of growth and pure beauty in Cragside’s historic landscape. It was a real privilege to give this tree the recognition it deserves.”
And if you are dressing a Christmas tree at home, spare a thought for the team involved who had the arduous task of unravelling nearly 800m (2624f) of lights to hang on the towering tree.
Festooning a tree that’s over 10 double-decker buses tall takes some industrial-duty thinking: the team used a cherry-picker which can reach to 51m (167f) and it took three people an entire two days to hang the lights.
Every bulb had to meticulously checked and then draped and fastened vertically so as not to put too much pressure on the tree, which has been part of the Armstrongs’ ‘fantasy mountain landscape’ for over 150 years.
But this isn't the first time the grounds have been decorated in celebratory lights. Back in 1884, to commemorate a royal visit, the Armstrong famiuly decorated the estate’s hillsides in thousands of lamps.
The Newcastle Daily Chronicle newspaper's contemporaneous report stated: ‘Ten thousand small glass lamps were hung amongst the rocky hillsides, and an almost equal number of Chinese lanterns were swung across leafy glades.’
The tree’s multi-coloured lights echo the Christmas spectacle inside the house, with a theme that takes inspiration from a real Servants’ Ball held at Cragside in 1894.
It imagines the Armstrong family have gone away for the festive season, and their staff are throwing a mischievous party.
The rooms are in topsy turvy colourful chaos as servants have abandoned their tasks to don their finest attire, ready for an evening of energetic dancing, mingling - and maybe even a touch of festive romance, too?
Steve added: “With the rooms in the house decked out in vibrant decorations, it felt only right to dress the tree in glorious technicolour, too, and we can’t wait to welcome our visitors to experience the World’s Tallest Bedded Christmas Tree throughout the festive season.”
The tree plays a starring role in BBC Two’s Christmas Treasures of the National Trust, which airs on Friday 19 December at 9pm and on iPlayer. The episode takes a behind-the-scenes look at festive preparations around the Cragside estate.
Christmas at Cragside is on until Sunday 4 January 2026.
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