Transplanting trees with a Tree Spade...

When we had the base course for the drive put down, and the entrance block work put up, it became clear that the plane trees we planted 3 years ago were quite a way off centre with where the drive ended up being placed. Also, over the 3 years it became clear that some of the trees were growing at different rates. So, we had a tree spade come in to dig up all the trees, swap them all around so that the heights were more balanced, and place them  very accurately and symmetrically on either side of the drive (within an inch or two).

Above: A photo taken of the trees last year. One wouldn't want to dig out 30 of these with a spade and shift them by hand. The other good thing about the tree spade is that all the bulbs which were planted around the base of the trees were transplanted as well.

Above: Tree spade cutting the hole
Below: Planting the trees

Below: Newly placed trees

Kew Garden Rhizotron...

I was going through some photos We took at Kew last year, getting inspiration for the park, and came across some we took of their tree-top walk called 'The Rhizotron/Xstrata Walk'.

It is a 200m long walkway, designed by Marks Barfield, which takes you 60 feet up in the air to walk amongst the tree tops. 

It gives you some great views over Kew and London...

The view from the top is very different from the view at the bottom...

Production Line...

Peter has been busy knocking out wooden squares to go around all our new trees, to hold the mulch and bulbs in. He has got it down to a fine art. We should have plenty of timber left for building the potting shed, and making borders for the Lime Walk and Bluebell Walk. 

We have planted up the second stretch of the driveway with a further 14 Plane Trees, and have been at work mapping out and planting up Badger's Wood. We have also started planting up all our urns and pots with fresh potting mix and spring flowers, and have started preparing a site for our boutique vineyard, which we shall share with you in our next post.

While we have been busy at that, the Dorset Horns have kept giving birth to late lambs. No more Highlands yet. They must be due by the end of this month though.

Countryside Love...

Some photos of countryside vistas to see us into the weekend. By Sunday the next Great Estates of Britain post should be ready. 
Have a great weekend. David.

Plant a Tree for the Jubilee...

Today at Willowbrook We planted an Oak on the estate to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It is the first tree in a copse that will be known as 'Badger's Wood'. 

We chose the tree at Wairere Nursery.

The planting is in support of  The Woodland Trust Jubilee Wood project. 

Earlier this year Her Majesty planted an Oak on her Sandringham Estate to mark the beginning of what is to become the Jubilee Wood...

We erected a temporary sign to commemorate the occasion too...

The Running of the Bulls (and the ruining of the bulbs)...

We arrived back from the UK in the wee small hours of Saturday morning. After the excruciating 29 hour journey from London (where the weather had been great for the most of our trip - some lovely posts to come), we got back to find that the cattle (and horses) had broken through their fencing and had rampaged through the park devasting many of the trees and the landscaping. 12 mops of Weeping Willow reduced to mangled broomsticks, all of our Horse Chestnuts eaten to the ground, and bulbs ripped out of the ground by the stems never to flower again!

I would have wept over the lost hours it took us to plant all the trees, the sheer cost of the damage, and the 2 years or so that it will take for the less damaged trees to get back to where they were before we went away - if it were not for being so thankful that our family and friends looking after Willowbrook in our absence had managed to protect the majority of the park from destruction.

We also arrived home to find that our Nanny goat, Bramble, had died while we were away, of unknown causes.

So, glad to be home again. More work to do (remedial now as well as planned), and this with my exams and the Christmas season looming. I guess Peter will be a busy boy....