Lonesome pineA notice was dropped in our let­ter­box the oth­er day inform­ing us that the play­ground in the gar­dens would be closed for the next 3 weeks or so, while 6 ancient pines were removed.

The coun­cil stated that it regret­ted the need to remove these trees as they were much loved, espe­cially the mag­ni­fi­cent spe­ci­men that grew right beside the pub­lic toi­let block. In fact, I know of one loc­al res­id­ent who on hear­ing the news, made a spe­cial trip to the tree the day before work began, to give it a hug, hav­ing spent many sum­mer after­noons in its shade in her young­er days..

And it is gone, just a pile of regal & immense logs lying beside its old spot. It’s impossible not to get a little misty, but the coun­cil is right, these trees were get­ting dan­ger­ous, more than one of them has endured quite spec­tac­u­lar storm dam­age over the last year or two.

The garden­ers have how­ever, taken cut­tings of these his­tor­ic trees to ensure the genet­ic line con­tin­ues, and intends to plant Nor­folk pines, mon­key puzzle trees & oth­ers to replace them.