This time of year represents big business–and exhaustion–for the producers of festive fare, from crackers to hellebores to ham. Jane Wheatley visits six stalwarts who are flat out right now

A Christmas shopping trip turns into a chance to catch up on pony gossip for Tessa Waugh , who is on the back foot as far as present buying is concerned but replete with tales of happy new homes

The smell of mud and hot horses in a freezing downpour elevates the spirits, while the eventual toe-thawing in the shower is a cause for jubilation, finds an undaunted Tessa Waugh

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Never work with animals and children, they say, but surely it isn’t a proper Nativity without them?

HOLLY pedalled along the track, the winter sun low in the sky ahead. She had one more stop, a stand of yew that would provide the final greenery she needed. Humming “The Holly And The Ivy” under her b