In search of Heritage Oaks – Savernakes Pot Belly, Judge Wymondam Oak, Ashbrittle Yew

After a rough night besdie the Windrush, and doubts that I should be doing this journey with an aging dog Kali, I hit paradise. Savernake forest. Dogs off lead, foopaths easy for Kali to follow, few people. Oh and amazing oaks.

What took me here was a book entitled Heritage Oaks, commissioned by Forestry England to celebrate and protect: ….. Published in 2012. I wonder if it was this UK project that inspired Richard Woolnaugh to register the Halesworth Heritage Oaks, which I have inherited.

I got a single person discount (makes a change for surcharge) at the Forestry England camp site check in. Along with a spot of scandal. Owned by the Cardigan family, Savernake Forest is managed on a 999 year lease by Forestry England, however, the new lords of Cardigan are wrestling through law courts to get the land back, to sell and recoup their bankruptcy. ‘I walked the grounds last night, and I tell you, I felt I was not alone. People think I’m mad but I felt the spirits.

The interpretation board describes the forest as mainly larch and beech, but what about the oaks, I think, why are they not mentioned? The guide book speaks of the two major oak species, Durmast (Sessile) – compact, branches rising, and English (Pedunculate) and proceeds to give good definition of difference, the attachment of acorns to the branch or via a stem, (Pendnculate) and the obverse for the leaves.

Warning 60 photos! In search of my first ‘Heritage Tree’ the Pot Belly Oak, we came across the major named oaks, all amazing and full of story and anatomy. I returned the next morning to draw the Saddle oak, its main limb now torn from the trunk with a violent scar. The Pot Belly oak was as described, right on the crazy busy A30 road. Why didn’t they move the road, respect the 500 year old oak, it’s skin covered with dust and pollution from the road.

The following morning we drove up the main avenue to park and walk to the King of Limbs, it’s limbs now scattered arround it, not like match sticks. Massive limbs in the space that it once inhabited.