Tenbury Wells Is The Centre Of Britain’s Mistletoe Industry

Some experts will tell you that it is more by luck than judgement, but undoubtedly part of the reason is that Tenbury Wells which sits alongside the River Teme where Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire meet has some of the best growing grounds for mistletoe in the country.
Being parasitic in nature, the plant delights in attaching itself to fruit trees and the large number of orchards in Herefordshire and Worcestershire were thought to play a large part in the abundance of mistletoe in the area.

Mistletoe is steeped in myth and legend

But this is dismissed as just a myth by Jonathan Briggs of Mistletoe Matters, an authority on mistletoe whose consultancy offers information and advice on all aspects of the plant in the UK.
"There are lots of apple orchard areas elsewhere in Britain that don't have mistletoe," he said. "The answer is climate - it only thrives in areas with patterns of low winter temperatures and high summer ones."

Obviously, Tenbury does not have its own microclimate - so how has the town become more synonymous with mistletoe than the rest of the region? Historian Jane Vyer thinks it could be partly down to luck.

"Mistletoe auctions were probably a common sight in the area from the mid-19th Century, especially in market towns which would have a weekly livestock or vegetable sale anyway," she says. "And in the way that things go, the more popular auctions survived longer than others.

"Once a venue was a favourite, it would naturally suck away at the popularity of the rest, and when an event starts to get a reputation for something in particular, it just snowballs. Just like there is no real reason, other than tradition, to associate Appleby Fair with horses - after all, you can sell horses anywhere - its reputation maintains the brand."

Unsurprisingly, residents of  Tenbury have put heart  and soul into promoting the brand of "mistletoe capital". When the town's annual auction was threatened with closure, they fought to keep the link.
History will tell you that for more than 100 years, mistletoe and holly sales were based at the town's cattle market but nearly disappeared when the site was sold for development in 2004. Nick Champion, Tenbury's mistletoe and holly auctioneer for more than 35 years, was responsible for keeping the tradition going by moving it over the border to Herefordshire for four years.

As a result, a group of local people set up the Tenbury English Mistletoe Enterprise (TEME) to help restore Tenbury's traditional status as the mistletoe-trading capital of the UK. Traders jumped at the opportunity to tempt buyers, and consequently almost every shop in the town becomes decorated with mistletoe - photographs, drawings and paintings of mistletoe, mistletoe embroidery, and also poems and factsheets about mistletoe.

In 2005, TEME organised a mistletoe festival and established 1 December as the official Mistletoe Day, endorsed in Parliament by MPs. There are estimates that the festival this year drew more than 500 extra people into the town.

Mr Champion said he thought the demand for mistletoe today was not as high as say 30 years ago, and that the prices generally were lower. "Last year was a dreadful year, it was hardly selling at all," he said. "But this year we had more first-quality mistletoe, with lots of berries on. You need a lot of berries for top prices."

Caroline Palethorpe, festival project manager and member of the Tenbury Mistletoe Association, said the extended cold period in February and March was ideal for early pollination of the plants. "Mother Nature must have known that we all deserve a good Christmas to end 2013," she added.

There is a considerable mark up in prices, with mistletoe that is woven into wreaths and split into sprigs sometimes fetching ten times what the buyers would have paid for it in the first place.

Researching mistletoe down the ages, you will learn that the Romans thought that it  represented peace, love and understanding and was hung over doorways to protect the household, said historian Jane Vyer. She said it was then adopted by Celts and druids as a fertility symbol, which is probably where the tradition of kissing underneath mistletoe stems from. Even the modest Victorians at least used mistletoe to flirt under.

Every year Lottie Foster drives for four hours from Brighton with a seven-tonne lorry, and  bulk buys the plant and then sells it on at London's Covent Garden.

"I make it up into little bunches and put a ribbon on and sell it mainly to young courting couples - I can sell a little bunch like that for a fiver," she said. "I may sound cynical, but romance brings in some good money.  Romance sells, and the only place to buy it is here. It's the mistletoe capital of Britain."