HTA Chief Executive Carol Paris found herself the centre of attention during the presentation of the Greatest Christmas Awards in Harrogate when she entered into the festive spirit and donned a rather fetching Santa's outfit.

Word about Carol's costume soon spread around the town with some exhibitors at Harrogate Christmas & Gift Fair breaking off their own evening entertainment to get a peep of her outfit.

Carol wore her Santa outfit to co-present The Greatest Christmas Awards with Bestsellers analyst Trevor Pfeiffer, who was dressed as an elf, at the Majestic Hotel.

Commenting on the awards, Carol said: “I was truly amazed at the astounding quality of the 100s of displays visited by the expert judges in The Greatest Christmas Awards.

“I cannot tell you how delighted I was to be one of the judges for these awards. Having always been an entrant in the awards it was a pleasure to see how rigorously all the entries were considered. Every single centre was visited, every team was talked to and the discussion to arrive at the choice of winners was both passionate and professional.

“I now realise on the occasions in the past when Garden & Leisure didn’t win there were simply teams that were better than us.

"The stories reported back about the team work makes me so proud to be part of this industry. Nobody does Christmas like garden centres!"