Danebury hillfort, located between Andover and Stockbridge in Hampshire, has a fine collection of beech trees. I’m told that the beechwood once extended over the whole site, but that the county council, who maintain the site, cut it back to reveal the splendid earthworks. By…
Continue reading Gatekeeper
This is a real tree. It’s an ancient yew tree (somewhere between 1,500 and 4,000 years old) in the village churchyard of Crowhurst, Surrey. The tree, even by the most conservative estimate of its age, is older than records of the church or of the…
Continue reading The tree with a door
This yew tree grows on the bank of a small local stream. It’s no ancient giant, but it is a lovely tree nonetheless. Skew indian ink on paper, unmounted (paper 61 x 43 cm) £210
The yew tree portrayed here is on Merrow Down near Guildford, Surrey. It is probably not the largest or the oldest tree at that site (its regularity and lack of visible hollowing suggests a relative youthfulness), but it is, nonetheless, massive. “Behemoth” is a biblical…
Continue reading Behemoth
Yew trees are quite odd trees. They evolved earlier than most of the other familiar British trees – oaks or beeches, say – which suggests that their oddities may be ancient traits that other, more modern trees, didn’t need: aerial roots, branches that take root,…
Continue reading Bestiary (Hollow Yew)
This is an oak tree that stands by the side of the main road as it bypasses the village. It is part of a narrow wood that screens the backs of some houses from the traffic. Judging from its size, I’d guess that it is…
Continue reading Entangled
The lofty beech is a common site on the chalk downs of southern England. Its shallow root system clings to the slopes and is often eroded by the elements, revealing a complex lattice. This drawing is a distillation of the many companionable beeches that I…
Continue reading Three Beeches on a Hill
This is a hollow oak tree in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire. While it isn’t one of the very special trees there that has been given a name and a sign bearing that name, it is very easy to spot from the path and it is, I…
Continue reading Golden Hollow – SOLD
This third beech tree in Selborne Hanger has a remarkable little cavern beneath its exposed roots, probably due to erosion. The roots form an open lattice – a “filigree” – over the space on the uphill side. The tree is at the foot of the hanger,…
Continue reading Filigree – SOLD
This very distinctive and characterful beech tree sits on the lip of a hollow in the hillside at Selborne, its triangular mass of exposed roots gracefully supporting it. I started to draw it on A3 paper but it didn’t feel right, so I switched to…
Continue reading Enigma – SOLD