The award-winning Matara wedding venue in Kingscote, near Wotton-under-Edge, will open its doors for a charity Christmas tree sale and gift fair this Saturday (December 8).

The event, from midday until 3pm, will be in the grounds of the Matara Centre, which is a 10-bedroom Regency house that hosts weddings and events in 28 acres of gardens and grounds.

As a regular calendar fixture, the sale raises money for the Wotton-under-Edge-based charity Rory's Well, which was created in the wake of the tragic death of 18-year-old student Rory Evans, who lost his life in a collision on the B4058 between Wotton and Charfield in 2018.

Rory's parents created the appeal to fund work in Sierra Leone and by 2021 more than £300,000 had been raised for village regeneration in remote areas of the African nation, supporting clean water and sustainable farming in more than 47 communities. By the same year, 40 wells had been dug or refurbished 40, while funds also go to maintaining existing wells, ensuring safe, clean water for isolated communities.

In recent projects, Rory's Well has created initiatives to support sustainable farming through community swamp developments, women's farming initiatives, bee farming and new 'Inga Alley Cropping' permanent farms – offering nutrition and livelihood training, whilst helping villagers to support themselves and transferring skills for future independence. 

Alongside this, the chairty has established and built a training centre to be used by locals for working and learning and recently built its first primary school – for more than 200 children.

This year's tree sale, with trees priced from £32, will also feature carol singing and craft stalls, including jewellery, woodcrafts and wreath-making, as well as mulled wine and refreshments for all ages.

● A £2 element on the sale of each tree will go to the "TreesTree project, which will plant a native tree in Sierra Leone.