
Stand on the lawns outside the Castle and look to the south west towards the ridge of hills some two and a half miles away. You cannot quite see the village of Ashmansworth but it is there. In another direction lies the hamlet Ashley Warren whilst further to the East is Ashford Hill. In the wider environs, moving steadily outwards, is Ash Vale, Ashstead, Ash and even further away, Esher and Ashford. As with many old villages and towns named for a compass point or geographical feature, in this case it is the Ash tree. Similarly, just across the Channel in France, the word frêne (Ash linked to its Latin root Fraxinus) has the same pattern of toponyms.
Trees, as the largest plant form, are at the core of life on earth and in all cultures, they are, to a degree, surrounded by myth and fable. In folk lore, Ash trees are often associated with the sacred. The Vikings believed that Yggdrasil, the World Tree, under which the gods held their councils, was an Ash whilst the Gaelic belief system also imbued it with powers of protection: of the five legendary guardian trees of Ireland, three were Ash.
Ash wood is very both very strong and elastic and it is said that a joint made of ash will bear more weight than any other wood. As a result, coach axles were made of ash as were oars, tool handles and archers’ bows. The tree coppices well, giving strong straight poles for bean poles after five years or oars after twenty. The density of the wood also makes it an ideal for fuel – the Latin name Fraxinus means firelight – as it burns hot and long. It grows easily, if coppiced it springs back with enthusiasm and if an ash tree falls down through accident, it will try yet again to grow.
As such a major feature of the landscape, they play background roles in extraordinary numbers of books and paintings. The famous English painter John Constable made some beautiful studies of ash and elm trees writing in September 1821 “I have done some studies … particularly a natural (but highly Elegant) group of trees, Ashes, Elms, and Oaks……” Equally they can inspire deep emotions – an American friend of the artist wrote: “I have seen him admire a fine tree with an ecstasy of delight like that with which he would catch up a beautiful child in his arms.”

Lime Trees
The Roman poet Virgil wrote his Eclogues some two thousand years ago and described the ash as the most beautiful tree. The poems were performed with great success on the Roman stage, exploring all the usual political and romantic challenges but above all described the exquisite beauty of the world in which we live. Ever since, the arcadian landscapes in which Virgil set his stories have become ingrained in our drama and literature.
If you haven’t noticed, sadly the list of native British trees is fading. Thanks to disease, you can no longer see the huge numbers of Elm trees that used to cover the English countryside and now the Ash is compromised as well. Human society’s global footprint, as we move goods around the world in ever increasing quantities, wantonly tramples flora and fauna without fully recognising the consequences.
It is estimated that Ash dieback will kill around 80% of Ash trees across the UK at a financial cost of some £15 billion. Just as devastatingly, it will change the landscape forever and threaten many species which are involved in its evolution above and below ground.. All we can do is replant in time and live in hope that we do not lose all the arcadia described by Virgil, nor all the Ash trees painted by Constable nor the promise of life given to us by trees.
“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”
― Nelson Henderson
“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
― Warren Buffett
Lovely reminder of the gift of life symbolized in the tree.
Lady Carnarvon, a lovely story and beautiful photos. I cannot imagine life without trees. Never to sit below a tree to think about life and the journey that it may take you would be unbearable. For me to see a forest is a gift for life. With Kind Regards, Cheryl
Trees are healing gifts
Well they say you learn something everyday, and without reading about The Ash , I would not have known about its strength and uses, it encourages me now to plant some trees for the future.
Thank you
Lady Carnarvon
MY DEAR LADY CARNARVON
MAGNIFIQUE PHOTOS.
VILA ALEMÃ
RIO CLARO – SP
BRAZIL
What lovely information. Despite being an apartment dweller I have my great grandparents’ bean poles and will have to find them and find out if they’re ash. I’ll be planting beans in the churchyard next year.
Here in Southwestern Ontario Canada we have already lost our ash trees to the Emerald Ash Borer. I’m glad you are taking time to appreciate yours while they still stand. You will miss them dearly when they are gone.
I live in hope and wonder if later I can plant them not where any were before.
Good morning,
Mondays are brighter with your writings. Something many of us in the US need right now. Thank you for sharing your home and all your loveliness.
Holly
Perfectly stated!(From Oregon)
I have always thought that landscape designers (especially Capability Brown) never actually saw what they had envisioned, because it has taken a long time to develop the trees and hedges as they placed them……
Therefore, these visionary landscapers were so unselfish, and thought of the future generations who would enjoy their works.
I wonder if they ever felt that they were ‘missing out’ because of that?
Perhaps they were just so absorbed in what they were creating that it didn’t occur to them?
Perhaps they had other views already and I wonder if this harried fear of missing out is highlighted today with our modern comms ….our modern rushed disease
“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”
– Nelson Henderson
Just come back from walking my Border in my local park (Fordingbridge) and noticed trees are magnificent, your article so interesting as all of them are.
Years ago, I remember my mother talking about a beetle that was beginning killing these trees. That was over 55 years ago and now, here in Michigan, the majority of our Ash and Elm trees are gone. As I recall they were beautiful…
Thank you for the history lesson. DeLynn
So beautifully written with lovely photos! Thank you for adding sunshine to the world!
Thank you for that beautiful piece. There is so much there to digest. And the place names in Britain carry so much history and local stories in them. Quite intriguing and fascinating.
Before I travel I like to look at place names – I do pull out an atlas and still think it is a good present and one and then to sit and turn the pages with children
Good morning from across the pond!
When I was in girl scouting, we used to sing: “The Ash Grove..” and
many church hymns have borrowed that tune for musical tune.
I never knew the tree was the basis of much folklore.
We, too, have lost most of the local Elms that graced our city streets,
and yet global change is viewed by many as a hoax.
Thank you again for your words, and the glimpse into your world.
Donna Deal,
Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, USA
It is among the trees that I feel closest to God. Thank you for another beautiful story!
Carolyn
Dear Lady Carnarvon, so well said, so many people forget that trees live and breathe as we do. They give us shade in the heat of the day, and clean the air that we breathe. And give us so much pleasure just to look at them. We should all go out and plant at least one of them if we can. Thank you for starting off a Monday morning, with such a beautiful thought.
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
Well, I have just learned so much more about I subject I deeply love. Your writings are wonderful! In this beautiful season of autumn, the trees are putting on a show of color and depth and reassurance. It is their steadfast reliability that can bring great comfort, especially during this difficulty time, as winter and darkness approaches. We here in the US suffered the loss of millions of glorious elm trees, and it it tragic to comprehend the scope of loss around the UK and Europe. Ash trees are magnificent, and hopefully, with more environmental protections, can be planted again. We recently had some tree work done around our home, pruning of large limbs and such, and the arborist said, as he looked at our woods, “You know, the trees help each other. They hold each other up.” We can hope to do the same for each other.
Thank you for the history and insight. I hope you and your family and friends stay safe and well.
Best regards,
Charlotte Merriam Cole
Thank you – we can learn from them and the links they form below ground as well
Your beautiful story of the beloved ASH Tree (along with so many other trees) took my breath away. Your words brought to mind a very important element of climate change that we have abused for too long……..I am blessed to live on a property filled with trees ….the beauty and comfort they bring is unsurmountable! Thank you for this lovely story. xoxo Joan (Athens, Georgia USA)
Such great research, and so comforting. We are living in scary times so heading to a park full of glorious trees changing into fall colors is especially wondrous.
Thanks for today’s blog.
Lovely words and thoughts, once again! Thank you, Lady Carnarvon ❤️❤️❤️
Lady Carnarvon,
What a poignant and timely post. It is sad to think about the Ash dieback and consequences to the British environment. One can only hope that the replanting efforts are a success.
Best wishes,
Stacey Brown
The Woodlands, Texas
Good afternoon Lady Carnarvon,
As I was reading your article today I was reminded of the poem below called The Firewood Cutters poem I believe.
Beechwood fires burn bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year
Store your beech for Christmastide
With new holly laid beside
Chestnuts only good they say
If for years tis stayed away
Birch and firwood burn too fast
Blaze too bright and do not last
Flames from larch will shoot up high
Dangerously the sparks will fly
But Ashwood green and Ashwood brown
Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown
Oaken logs, if dry and old
Keep away the winters cold
Poplar gives a bitter smoke
Fills your eyes and makes you choke
Elmwood burns like churchyard mould
Even the very flames burn cold
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread
So it is in Ireland said
Applewood will scent the room
Pears wood smells like a flower in bloom
But Ashwood wet and Ashwood dry
A King may warm his slippers by.
My dear Lady Carnarvon, thank you for that beautiful piece & stunning photos – I’m coming back to Highclere in December & I will certainly take a while to absorb the beautiful trees in your park & surrounding hills….there’s a lot to think about, your writing will haunt me….yours, Caroline
Thank you
Thank you, Lyn, for taking the time to share such a delightful poem! Lady Carnarvon is to be treasured and thanked profusely for bringing us all together in such a beautiful, educational and inspiring communication! We will survive this and thrive because of individuals like Lady Carnarvon– and you!
Bonita
Lake Forest, Illinois, USA
What an intriguing & lovely poem! Thank you so much for sharing it!
Wow that was awesome!!! What a pleasure to have read that! Thanks for sharing!!!
Touchingly beautiful prose! Thank you for these thoughts, and thank you to the photographers and designers, as well, whose talents enhance these Monday moments. Warm regards for a wonderful day and week ahead. Falls Church, Virginia.
Dear Countess:
Once again on Monday morning here in the US, you have brought us an insightful essay. Living in Oregon, the beauty of trees is the heart of our history, our current lives and our future. Because of the terrible recent fires, we have lost so much of their beauty, protection and comfort. We suffer as do so many animals and birds, with this stripping of our gorgeous landscape essentially bare, but amazingly, with time rebirth happens and beauty will emerge for future generations. We must be responsible guardians of this future and do everything to protect our forests and the nurturance they provide for all. Thank you for your beautiful insights.
Thank you i hope we do begin to think of ourselves as guardians.
Wonderful blog this morning Lady Carnarvon! I’m a tree hugger at heart and LOVE today’s topic. Has anyone ever recorded all the tree varieties growing on Highclere property? If so, how many different species grow there?
Another project I would love to do!
Very interesting article. I love receiving the blog. Keep up the great work.
Thank you
Lady Carnarvon,
Thank you for a very interesting blog about the beautiful ash trees in your area. If trees could talk! In the US, ashes are found in concentration in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest. In North Carolina, we are a state of oaks and pines and dogwoods, for the most part. The city next door to Cary, where I live, is Raleigh, known as the City of Oaks.
However, I would love to live in the country of the ash trees if I had the chance! Visiting Highclere Castle and its grounds in 2013 was the best trip ever.
Martha
I hope you will return…
Also in Colorado, in our Rocky mountains we had a significant die-back of pines due to ‘beetle kill’ that has provided much fuel, it seems, for our current widespread & growing fires.
Yet, out of this truly terrible & sorrowful destruction, over time, new gifts of life spring forth as creation grows anew. Such renewal is a source of honest comfort, I find.
Lady Carnarvon, in the US, baseball bats are most often made from ash. We are monitoring ash trees in our neighborhood for the Ash Bore. Is that the same problem you are having?
I would suspect so – we seem to proliferate viruses and perhaps now have our own lesson
We have had the dreaded elder bug kill all our elms. Our street used to be a covered arch, it was so beautiful in the summer.
Our Mountain Ash just had to be cut down due to disease. It was the Little birds favorite sanctuary from the hawk.
It’s so sad to lose a tree it’s like a family member in away.
Very sad
I love all trees but ash is a favourite and sadly here in eastern Ontario (Canada) our ash trees have all succumbed to the long horned Asian ash beetle. Half dead trees are being removed from our rural and urban landscapes by the thousands. Once again thank you for your Monday morning blog. I really enjoy reading and learning from them.
Wendy
Thank you for the wonderful lesson in trees! I never realized how truly important they are!
There is a treatment for Emerald Ash Borer. Sadly I did not research it until several years after my local municipality (Uxbridge in SW Ontario, Canada)had decided not to approve the proposal to save just the 100 year old trees in the township. It is expensive but if there are a few important ones you might consider it. Our large trees are all gone but we are keeping the competitive growth away from the saplings that were ignored by the EAB. We hope that in time the native woodpeckers will learn to control the EAB larva.
I live in Wisconsin and sadly we are suffering from an ash bore insect. My last ash tree died this year. Your words of replanting gave me hope fot our sad planet.
My dad planted an entire grove of walnut trees when he was in his mid-70’s. He had grown all the seedlings himself from nuts harvested from a tree his father had planted. I need to get busy planting some trees for my children’s grandchildren!
If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s how quickly Mother Nature can start to recover when we humans give her a chance.
Love your Monday posts, they give the week a great start!
Regards, Karla Tucker
Lac La Hache, BC, Canada
I agree please can we all help her
As always, I enjoyed your Monday morning pearls of wisdom?
Have you, by any chance read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein? The tree gives of itself until there is only a stump left. “And the tree was happy” end this beautiful book.
We will think positive thoughts for the elms of Highcleer.
It sounds like my sort of book
Lovely writing. I remember when elm disease came to our village…it killed most of the trees and those not infected were cut down in hopes of stopping the disease. Truly a sad thing. Terrible the ash trees are now dying. Heartbreaking !
So Beautiful. Thank you for the pictures
Lady Carnavon
We have lost the majority of the Ash trees here in Kentucky and many on my property, including a very large tree that shaded the front of the house. With the death of the trees we received a bounty of Oyster mushrooms for two years following their demise, a small but grateful parting gift……
Have a wonderful week.
Robert Strayer
And you too, thank you
Thank you for this lovely tribute and the heightened awareness we all need about the fragility of our natural world. The role of trees in our ecosystem cannot be overestimated — including the very oxygen we breathe. But the role of nature to restore us to sanity during these stressful times is often overlooked as well. In Atlanta, we have been blessed to have an abundance of trees, but sadly, changes in the recent past have relaxed the requirements for the clear-cutting of trees to make way for development. As always, you have focused us through your elegant writing and beautiful images to think about the truly important things. What an inspiring way to start the week!
I think we might all feel that those who are in politics take least time to listen.
So interesting this week! We just had a hurricane in Alabama that played havoc with our oak trees. Saved as many as we could. Beautiful writing of interest as always
The terrible disease and insect devastation that has happened with varieties of beloved trees can be very disheartening, whether started through unintended consequences of human activity, or climate change. On the other hand, I find hope in the broadening awareness of issues like these, and the efforts that are taking place to mitigate the destruction.
I live in the U.S. Southeast, and there are gorgeous, centuries-old live oaks that I get to admire and commune with on trail walks (as well as the smaller ‘little fry’ that are only handful of decades old, lol). I had a favorite that I would visit almost daily when my daughter attended an elementary school that bordered a trail along a local river. I would take the dog for a walk on the trail after dropping her off, and I loved greeting ‘Tree’ as we passed by. It was lovely to see how the light changed coming through her branches during the course of the year, and I found it fascinating to see the cycle of Resurrection Ferns that grew on the arms of her branches. It’s been a few years since my last visit – I’ll need to get down to that trail again soon to say hello. 🙂
I hope your upcoming week goes well, Lady Carnarvon, and that everyone at the Castle is doing well. Cheers from here in Summerville, South Carolina.
Thank you – I have a few favourite oaks as well..
Trees are truly a wonder of Heaven. Having a number of them on my Property and seeing the Fall colors blazing from them It never fails to give me hope that We will survive the Winter ahead and that the Spring will be a Wonderous time in the upcoming Year. Ty For your beautiful Blog.
Look forward to next Monday.
Yale Sanders
Dear Lady Carnarvon, such a wonderful story, and beautiful pictures, I love this time of year, for the rich colours the leaves turn, where I live (before lockdown) we have had tree planting weekends, to replace fallen trees, and also to start new woodland, which I think is wonderful idea.
Have a wonderful week.
Best wishes
Lorraine.xxx
What a wonderful thought and the history at Highclere weekend is something I want to with the Sunday focused on nature and next year every buys a ticket and a tree and perhaps that is our tree planting weekend? Everybody everywhere? That was my thought but too much to do this year.
I think that is a wonderful idea.xx
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your article today Lady Carnarvon, thank you..
My own home is Ash Bank House and sits in North East Cheshire. We sadly only have one remaining Ash tree, having lost a few to disease since 1988. At our local council’s suggestion they were replaced with Mountain Ash. Very colourful but not really the same.
We have several very large Beech Trees, which although offering abundant shade also bring much work in clearing the seasonal offerings deposited on our garden and drive. I love the Ash tree albeit a shadow of its former self having required pollarding about 20 years ago. I pray it survives the onslaught of die back.
All my best wishes to you, your family and staff at Highclere.
Thank you for your kind thoughts
I’m staring out my window at the very large ash tree in my back yard that has died over the past two years from the Emerald Ash Borer. There is a long waiting list with the local tree services, as the trees have died rapidly all over the town I live in.
Enjoy them while you can!
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
Thank you for this enlightening article. Living in the Rocky Mountains here in Montana, we enjoy the Rocky Mountain Ash trees, which here are more like very large shrubs, not growing huge and spreading as the ones in your photos. This variety grows such a profusion of orange/red berries that they are also favorites for the birds and bears which frequent our yard. Unfortunately for us, the local very hungry black bear recently devastated our small Ash trees which we planted years ago. I do hope they can recover from the forced pruning! The high winds we have experienced this year have also done even more damage to our pine and fir forests. We should wait until springtime to get planting again, I suppose. Meanwhile, we’ll just enjoy the snow!
It would be a great project to catalog all your important Highclere trees–and from the sound of it, none too soon! On my small property close to the Atlantic, I feel like a forester maintaining our predominant pines and oaks, now undergoing succession to primarily oak. I cut back oak saplings to allow others to grow, and make room for some diversity–redbud, dogwood, hawthorn, supplied by our diligent Arbor Day society. Thank you for reminding us of the long human history of the ash tree: myth and legend (and history) wouldn’t be the same without it. Same applies to ancient yews, I think. Have you any yews at Highclere?
Always enjoy your fresh writing on so many varied topics, both useful and inspiring.
We do have ancient yews – one is 1000 years old
Good morning Lady Carnarvon
I think this Welsh folk song says it all :-
“THE ASH GROVE
Down yonder green valley, where streamlets meander,
When twilight is fading I pensively rove
Or at the bright noontide in solitude wander,
Amid the dark shades of the lonely ash grove;
‘T was there, while the blackbird was cheerfully singing,
I first met my dear one, the joy of my heart!
Around us for gladness the bluebells were ringing,
Ah! then little thought I, how soon we should part”
A beautiful tree, too soon maybe lost 🙁
Joy Roebig
Good Monday Ladt Carnarvon and our Monday Family,
I watch a lot of British shows. I enjoy the Narrowboating vlogs. I have learned so much about the UK. On one such vlog, a couple had rented (hired) a boat in France and were traversing canals in France. There was an area that had beautiful trees on both sides of the water. There were areas that were void of trees completely. This went on for quite a distance. They explained that a bug had killed off the lovely trees. They were very contagious, so they burn the sick trees to try and save the remaining trees. They discovered the bug that had infected the trees came over with American GIs in WWII. The wooden Amunition boxes brought a wood eating bug to France that they are still trying to eradicate. How sad. It broke my heart when I learned this. Of course, no one knew it existed at the time. It shows how fragile even a mighty tree is. We have to respect and care for them. Thank you for bringing this to light again.
Sue Smith
Englewood, Florida
MY DEAR LADY CARNARVON,
GOOD EVENING FROM BRAZIL
“THE PERFUME OF THE FOREST HAS YOU WITH ITS DARK SOUL. KEEPER OF SECRETS THAT NO ONE IS WORTH LISTENING TO.”
VILA ALEMÃ
RIO CLARO – SP
BRAZIL
“In a time when most could use a little extra care, nurturing another living thing [plants] could be just the right medicine.”
After I read this quote in an article about a plant shop, I was struck by how it related to your blog and how it is ‘played out’, as it were, with our own Linden (Lime) trees.
Our Linden trees are full & bushy. They generously perfume the air with multitudes of deliciously scented blossoms. In addition to privacy, they give us lovely, deep shade(quite welcome in our 90-100* summer temps). Their dried fallen bracts provide the necessary ‘brown’ addition to the abundance of ‘green’ from the grass clippings to balance out the compost.
And closest to my heart, in our somewhat ‘bunny-sentric’ home (our aged fluff is a source of much joy), the Lindens offer year-round treats of leaves & twigs to nibble – fresh in season, but lovingly harvested & dried in the dark cool basement for winter fodder.
It’s a simple, happy cycle: we take care for the tree; it, in turn feeds the bunny; she, in turn gives sweet snuggles & object lessons of calm contentment.
Thank you Lady Cararvon for sparking this reflection of reasons to be grateful at the outset of this Monday!!
Thanks for sharing this today about trees and their importance.
I buy products from Attitude Living, a Canadian Company, (I live in the USA)because not only are they EWG verified, but when you buy from them they plant trees!! Isn’t that cool!
Thank you for mentioning this company. How lovely that they plant trees when you purchase trees from them. It is a good company to learn about.
Dear Lady Carnarvon:
Thank you for your Monday blog and beautiful Fall colored photographs of the Ash Tree(s) around the Castle. It was a pleasant and welcomed read on this chilly, dreary, rainy day in Michigan.
Michigan has lost many Ash Trees due to infestations of the Emerald Ash Borer. In an attempt to save the remaining Ash Tree population, importation of Ash Tree firewood and products is prohibited from the State of Ohio.
Enjoy the trees you have, and prepare to replant when needed.
Until next week Monday, have a good week.
Perpetua Crawford
I live in Panama City, FL. We lost about 80% of our trees – pines and huge water oaks mostly – due to Hurricane Michael which swept through here two years ago. It changed our landscape forever. There are still broken trees on almost every main thoroughfare reminding us of the devastation. But we have seen other trees start to grow back where the old ones fell. And we still have most of large and stately live oaks which we treasure more than ever. The cycle of life goes on, just as God intended from the beginning.
We had the distinct pleasure of visiting Highclere Castle four years ago. It will always be one of my VERY favorite memories. You met us in the drawing room and told our group of the Highclere history before we had a guided tour through the castle. We still talk about it often.
I love reading your blog every Monday. Thank you for this
Lady carnarvon, i thank you sincerely for this article.
Aaron
Lady Carnarvon,
Beautiful and inciteful story. Trees are so important. They are a gift of God.
Thank you for the lovely blog about ash trees and elm trees. From my deck I can see a beautiful elm. I live in an apartment building. I showed the elm to a maintenance person the other day, suggesting that perhaps the owner of this property might take steps to protect it. He just stood and stared with no idea at what he was to look for. I was frustrated and gave him a quick lesson in the worth of trees that are fast disappearing from our landscape here in Maine, USA. Sixty years ago one could drive around this state and almost every town’s main street was lined on both sides with elms. That is no longer the case except in a few communities that early on took steps to save their elms. Most of our ash here are buried in the woods amongst the maples, beech and softwoods. But ash are indeed lovely as landscape beauties. I see that from the lovely photos accompanying your moving writing. Thank you again for reminding us all to tend our precious trees so that others that follow may appreciate their beauty.
Beautiful photos of the trees and the castle looks even more magical in the autumn sunlight. How old are the lime trees? When we have visited Canada, skiing in Whistler/Banff and on the Rocky Mountaineer the mountains and trees were breathtaking too. Nature is the best tonic!
I imagine the lime trees were planted in victorian times as I have a photo of them at reasonable height in 1895
My father grew up in a rural area of northern Illinois, and I always wonder if that did not have something to do with his penchant for trees. In the small yard surrounding the house I grew up in, he planted several trees, we had four in the front of the house – two on the verge between the street and the common sidewalk, and two in front of our house. In the backyard there were at least five or six. Locust, ash, maple, jackpine, white pine. The ash was from a seedling given out by our local park district, in an effort to replant trees after the Dutch Elm blight in the 50’s and 60’s – this was a project that when on, successfully I think, for several years. And though we lost many beautiful trees to the blight, today, our city can still be called “The Forest City”, thanks to the members of the park district board who understood the value of trees, and the necessity of replacing the lost ones.
Trees do become friends and grow with us!
Thank you for another informative piece. I am saddened, though, to hear of the plight of the Ash and Elm trees. May God preserve the countryside. May we, as humans, do our part as well.
Dear Lady Carnarvon, I remember my Parents and Grandparents would talk about trees on the different trips we would take together. They would often know where all the large Oaks, Ash and Elm trees were along the way and we would stop to look at them and greet them in a way. As I got older, this tradition would somewhat annoy me, because being a teenager, doesn’t everything? I am so glad they did this because it gave me so much knowledge without knowing it, and I am lover of trees now. Seeing a towering oak puts my mood right if at first it is not. This is a wonderful expression of their importance and I learned more and throughly enjoyed it. Thank you.
A favorite quote of mine, however apocryphal it may be, comes from Martin Luther, who when asked what he would do if he knew the world would end the next day, said, “I’d plant a tree”.
Agreed
There is something both calming and motivating about that Warren Buffet quote. Thank you for sharing. You have brightened my day once again. I hope that you are faring well in our current strange times.
We are all trying to keep calm and carry on…
Lady Carnarvon,
Thank you for providing such interesting subjects.
Blessings,
Phyllis Simpson
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
I am a bit late in replying this week but I loved your blog. Some of my favorite times have been outside in forests among wild and beautiful trees. I have always enjoyed climbing trees, collecting leaves, taking photos of unique trees (especially in the fall) and just sitting and looking at their unique characteristics. This past weekend my husband and I drove to the North Carolina mountains to leaf peep and see the beautiful fall colors. One of my favorite books of poetry is “Heartwood Meditations on Southern Oakes” poetry by Jalaluddin Rumi and photographs by William Guion. Rumi died in 1273 but his works have been translated into English for all of us to enjoy. You may be familiar with this book but if not I think it is one you will truly enjoy.
Enjoy your time outside this week among your beautiful trees,
Pamela Oates
Thank you very much for the recommendation- I love the phrase “leaf peep”!
Lady Carnarvon, On your Instagram today, the apple tart looks mouth watering. I am so thankful that I have a copy of At Home At Highclere. It is just a great book. We have made quite a few of the recipes and they taste so very good. The book is a must have. The photography is stunning. It has it all . There is plenty of reading past and present. A special Christmas present for some one. Thank you so much for writing it. I really do love it. With Kind Regards, Cheryl
You are so kind – thank you – I wanted to share photographs, stories, traditions,… it was our first ever photographic “coffee table book” yet it was so much more! It is about life here… I hope it gives pleasure and I am glad you cook from it. Thank Cheryl – if you love cooking, Downton, history or traditions I hope it is fun. We all need moments of fun!
MY DEAR CHERYL,
I MAKE YOUR WORDS MY WORDS. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
VILA ALEMÃ
RIO CLARO – SP
BRAZIL
I have seen some magnificent trees while on holiday in England. I have photographs of trees by themselves and in combination with wildflowers. The trees demonstrate the majesty while the flowers exhibit the beauty of nature. I have photos of the trees at Highclere as they are very lovely. You are lucky to have a sculpted vista as it shows the best of mother nature to its’ best advantage.
Thanks for another glimpse into the modern Victorian life.
Here is America too, there is pressure on trees. With COVID, people are spending more time outdoors and investing in outdoor furniture, recreational equipment etc. They see neighbors’ trees as both a safety threat and disruption to their increased outdoor activity forced on by COVID.