writes Alex Cutler

GOATS living on a Portland farm are feasting on Christmas trees thanks to a festive donation from a Dorset coffee shop.

The hungry residents of Fancy's Family Farm were overjoyed by a donation of about 40 Christmas trees from The Dancing Goat, a speciality coffee shop in Poole.

As well as the trees The Dancing Goat also presented the farm's owners with a cheque for £210, which was raised by the coffee shop's customers through its Christmas tree donation scheme.

Su Illsley, owner of Fancy's Farm, said: "The donation is great. The Dancing Goat have been collecting trees for the goats for the last few years from their customers and this year's donation takes their total to £1,000.

"We have had an amazing response to our financial difficulties with lots of people coming to sponsor animals and donate to the running costs of the farm. This donation will buy approximately 25 bags of animal feed or a week's worth of hay and straw."

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Customers at the coffee shop gave £5 each for their tree to be collected, which are then delivered to Fancy's Farm along with all the money raised for free.

Colin Cross, owner of The Dancing Goat, said: "Every year, people have a real issue trying to get rid of their Christmas trees. They end up stuck in the garden for months and months or they just end up in landfill.

"I saw a report where goats were eating Christmas trees and I thought it was unbelievable.

"As we are called The Dancing Goat and sometimes just 'The Goat' I thought it would be a nice thing for us to do.

"It's a long way to go with all these trees from Poole but it's a beautiful part of the world to see.

"We have been trying to get our customers to go and visit the farm as well and this year we actually collected a few trees less than normal. That's because some of our customers actually made the trip themselves to deliver their tree in person.

"It was about £200 we gave them, I know it's not a lot but if a few more businesses did things like this they would be ok."

The trees were delivered by Colin and one of his customers, Brian Evans from South Shore Limited.