Residents in Putney are taking Christmas very seriously, by adorning trees with traditional decorations.

Families in Festing Road have decorated every single tree which line the street, which goes down to the River Thames. The idea cam when three-year-old Lila Tate asked her neighbour, Hugh Thompson, whether Santa was coming this year.

Residents have used lights, baubles, model robins, gilded barbie dolls and other tree decorations to create a street "fit for Santa". The street is famous for its blooms in the summer but this year they have decided to add traditional Christmas decorations.

Every tree is individually adopted, with each decoration different. The wide range of creative talent has been exposed. Street organiser Hugh Thompson said: "We get a lot of enthusiasm for our street activities but decorating the trees has been the most popular. This has been an idea which appeals to kids of all ages. Everyone likes the fantasy of Christmas and everyone likes the idea of doing things with others. I hope other streets take up the idea.”

First all the houses in the street were emailed, then there was a meeting and a map of the trees was drawn up. Houses then adopted trees and where necessary some houses shared a tree. Already some have learnt that their bindings, which work indoors,were not suitable for outdoor winter conditions. While several trees have battery powered lights one is using solar power.

Fifty years ago David McKee made the street famous with his Mr Benn cartoon character. In his BBC cartoons he renamed the road Festive. Now the present inhabitants have taken that name to a new level. And as two year old Raffa Corbett said: "Wow”, six year old Pablo Agosti said: "This is awesome, we can't do this in Spain because we don’t have trees in the road.”

Meanwhile Lila Tate said: "Santa isn’t going to miss our road now, its great."