WHILE the August bank holiday weekend saw record-breaking temperatures, a garden centre looked more like Winter Wonderland.

Summerhill Garden Centre on the A127 near Basildon is now fully kitted out for the festive season after launching their 2019 Christmas preparations and fundraising in aid of Essex and Herts Air Ambulance.

The sheer scale of the Summerhill display - which has launched in August for 20 years - means that it is built continuously from opening, until its peak in November, while planning the display takes a full year with preparations for this year starting prior to December 25 last year.

Christmas manager Kazie Rider: “The team have put their hearts and souls into the display once again this year, and we think it really shows.

“We’ve been fielding calls from customers since May asking when we’d open, so we knew we’d have our work cut out to satisfy the expectation that grows every year.

“As the display develops towards Christmas itself, new lines will be added all the time, so no two visits between now and then will be quite the same.”

The official launch of the Christmas period at the garden centre saw performers from Southend’s The Princess Emporium entertain youngsters with singing, costumes and photos with their favourite story-book characters while collecting magical bead chains from around the store.

The magical beads featured in the company’s Christmas teaser video on Facebook, where two cheeky children snuck into the display, only to be met by The Ice Queen and her sister The Snow Princess.

Luckily, the princesses weren’t cross, and instead put them to work helping with the finishing touches.

The display also features a life-size steam train and a miniature village.

Manager Steve Yeu said: “We’re encouraging our customers to support our fundraising efforts again this year, which they’ve always done very generously. Our George and Lily Summerhill bears will return which include a £3.50 donation per sale, alongside a £5.00 donation for each of our popular light up water spinners. We’ll also feature our annual memorial tree.”