Fascinating Tree Walk round our village on Saturday 1 October led by Sarah Couch. Her knowledge of the history of trees in general and the trees in the village in particular was very interesting indeed. I never knew that the reason why we have so many Pseudoacacias in our village is because Cobbett of “Rural Rides” had friends in the Village and this was a tree he promoted.
We saw lots of trees of various kinds as we walked through the Fishponds and then around the edge of the Playing Fields including some ancient Willows. I learnt there that by measuring an Oak’s circumference you can tell how old it is – an inch a year.
We marvelled at the great Tulip Tree in the garden of The Elms in Oxford Road and the Holm Oak at Beech Court in Newland Street, and finished at the Peace Oak accessed from Cobbetts Close (yes that’s why it has that name) and, measuring it, checked that an inch a year for an oak was correct.