Tree-mendous - Two Mid Wales oaks make Tree of the Year shortlist
They span centuries and have become landmarks of the British countryside – and now they have been given their own award.
Two giant oaks in Mid Wales have been included for the Tree of the Year shortlist, which was revealed today.
The Brimmon Oak in Newtown and the Gregynog Oak in Gregynog, Tregynon, have been included. They join a prestigious British list that includes a sycamore that starred in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and the original Bramley apple tree.
The Woodland Trust has included the two oaks from the region in the awards for Wales.
The Brimmon Oak is an ancient, pollarded oak that has been part of the landscape above Newtown for more than 500 years.
The oak came under threat of removal to build a bypass, but Mervyn Jones, who farms the land, fought a campaign to prevent its removal and then to win a 15 metre exclusion zone, "bending" the bypass to avoid the tree.
The Gregynog Oak has a girth of more than six metres and is the largest in the grounds of Gregynog Hall, made a national nature reserve in 2013. It is believed it may have sprang from an acorn during the reign of Henry VIII.
They are among six shortlisted in Wales, including an 800-year-old oak that has witnessed the rise and fall of Dinefwr Castle in Carmarthenshire and the Bodnant Sweet Chestnut in Bodnant Gardens, Conwy, which is one of the oldest trees in the National Trust garden and thought to date back to the Georgian landscaping of the original estate in the 1700s. Another contender is the Castle Oak at Dinefwr Castle, Near Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, a tree thought to be between 800 and 850 years old which stands in the estate which was home of the famous Welsh Princes of Deheubarth. The Cwm yr Esgob Veteran Oak, near Rhayader, is also on the list. It is one of the largest and oldest trees in the ancient wood pasture at Cwm yr Esgob, Carngafallt.
There are 28 finalists across the UK from almost 200 nominations. A winner for each country will be selected by a public vote and they will go on to compete in the European tree of the year contest.
Shortlisted trees in England include a mulberry bush at a prison in Yorkshire which is thought to have been the origin of the nursery rhyme Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, played by female prisoners with their children. England's nominated trees also include rare elms, the famous tree on Hadrian's Wall which featured in Kevin Costner's 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and the dying original Bramley apple tree from which all other Bramley trees come.
The winning tree in each country will benefit from a "Tree LC" grant of £1,000, and any tree with more than 1,000 votes will get £500, which can be used to arrange a health check, provide education materials or hold a celebratory event.
Beccy Speight, Woodland Trust chief executive, said: "These trees have stood for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and each will have a special place in peoples' lives.
"By celebrating them and reminding people of their value we hope to support and influence those who can ensure they continue to thrive for future generations."
