It may still be August, but a town in Kent has put up what are believed to be the first Christmas lights in Britain.
Fairy lights festoon a tree in Tenterden High Street as the town’s Chamber of Commerce tries out ideas for this year's decorations.
The previous lights – worth £15,000 – mysteriously went missing last year and fundraising has been going on since then (donations can be made here).
The current lights are from a strand that wasn’t taken and are “just a test”, a message from the town’s official Twitter account says.
They are timed to come on at 9.15pm, switching off at 11.30pm.
“It looks pretty good,” Chamber of Commerce events officer Jonathan Medes told Kent Online.
Tenterden's Christmas lights in 2011
He added: “With the money we have, we will be able to light some of the big trees this year, so Tenterden will not be in the dark.”
He added: “This is a sample tree and if we like it, we can get working on others.”
But resident Simon Abbott is less than enthused, telling The Telegraph: “It’s still more than 100 days until Christmas and the sun is still blazing away.
“Nobody wants to think about the cold winter coming up – we want to enjoy the sun while it lasts, not start thinking about presents, turkey and snow.”
