Everything changes

"We plant trees for those born later"". Someone long dead planted this tree for us. The trees on our drive were planted just before the First World War, almost exactly a century ago. The most magnificent was this lime, which grew to 30m tall. In late May I swear every bee in Wiltshire came to get drunk on its nectar. The scent was divine, and the sound of humming made you think that the tree might levitate.

Disaster struck in the shape of a gale last autumn when a huge limb was ripped off. The rest of the tree was badly unbalanced. If it had fallen over it would have demolished two farm cottages. We had an emergency consultation with a tree surgeon about whether we could save the tree. He said the only solution was to cut it right back. Being a lime it should pollard well. It will never have a great crown again but eventually it should look like a giant fuzzy lollipop. So here it is, a 7m trunk with a few new leaves...