OUR NATIONAL TRUST - The champion of heritage and nature - PART ONE

 

As part of my support for the National Trust's ambition to plant twenty million trees by the year 2030 I have my own little project PLANT A TREE 'TIL SEVENTY-THREE which began with my publishing a book on 3rd October.

From that day onwards until the end of the Trust's project - assuming I live that long - I am paying for a tree to be planted every single week.

I have now started a second piece of writiting to support The National Trust where I will write a diary entry every time I visit, a project which will operate until the end of 2022 then be published as a paperback on Amazon.

In addition to its ultimate publication I am going to blog each visit in the hope it  will encourage others to support this incredible organisation.

Here is my first chapter, blog, entry, call it what you like.

FRIDAY 12^th DECEMBER 2021 – Stowe

(My Plant A Tree ‘Til Seventy-Three target as of today: 8 Actual: 23)

Stowe is the jewel in the crown of The National Trust. If I had a penny for every time I have

been to Stowe near Buckingham I could buy myself a jewel and probably a crown to put it in.

The best visits to Stowe are always spur of the moment visits. For the past few days my old man’s sciatica has been giving me a lot of pain. With this and everything that is going on in the world I have been feeling very depressed which is not like me. Depressed and under pressure, self-inflicted pressure, as I write thousands of words every day in my challenge to claim the title of the world’s most prolific writer on Amazon.

Today more than ever I need to visit Stowe, yes this is a spur of the moment visit and I need to come away with a diamond.

Let’s see what happens.

So here I am sitting on a bench beside the eleven acre lake. The sun is shining very brightly but low in the sky casting its rays across the surface of the water. To my right I can see little but I can hear a lot. I can hear birds singing, different songs from different birds. To my left the trees are reflecting their images in the water. I am going to try to take a photograph. Fingers crossed I can capture the beauty of those water shadows.

 

Hey that worked great didn’t it.

Walking on now behind me is the folly of the Statue of Queen Caroline around which are many saplings newly planted in The National Trust’s ambition to plant twenty million trees by the year 2030. That is an amazing project and a lovely target BUT it is not enough. Twenty million, better forty million, how about fifty million ?

I am now five weeks into my own tree planting project which I  am calling PLANT A TREE ‘TIL SEVENTY-THREE Here in Stowe I am thinking of ways I can inspire more people to support the National Trust’s ambition and smash that twenty million target.

How many trees are there here in Stowe ?  I wonder if anyone actually knows. How many saplings are there within my view as I walk along ? Many, many. I am going take lots and lots of photographs as well as picking up leaves which I will mount and press before laminating them on card to give out to people encouraging them to plant a tree with The National Trust.

I am now looking at the Gothic Folly. Above the haunting building there is not a cloud in the sky but away on the horizon behind the folly are a few whispers of cirrus clouds. Let me try to take a picture and share it with you.

I wrote a story for my two granddaughters set in the Gothic Folly, a story I called The Lonely Ghost. That story features within my book Plant A Tree ‘Till Seventy-Three which I published

on October 4^th to promote my own tree planting support within The National Trust’s ambition. Have you read it ?

Maureen, Doggie Jake and I are off now to walk up to the folly and then to Stowe House where Maureen wants a cup of tea.

Ah the Stowe House café is closed. Oh dear, what a shame, never mind.

Queen Victoria did not like Stowe House when she visited in 1845. Today it is Stowe School and I find myself in agreement with Her Majesty but we have not come here to look at an over the top building but to enjoy the amazing beauty of the parkland gardens in which it stands.

So where are we walking to now ?

Wow ! Wow ! Wow ! We are now sitting in the Lampart Gardens, I have just spoken with a team planting sapling trees within the trust’s ambition. How many of those twenty million have they planted ? We will soon be walking back to the car to head home, my old man’s sciatica is giving me a very bad time and Maureen is going to drive home. (Owch !) But meeting those lovely people planting the trees has given me the biggest possible diamond to take home with me from today’s visit to Stowe.

As I draw this visit to a close let me share a photograph I took of an ancient tree in the Lampart Garden, a photograph of its root system protruding from the ground.

How old is that tree ? One, hundred, two hundred, three hundred possibly four hundred years old. 2021 minus 400 = 1621. Who was on the throne in 1621 ? James I, son of Mary Queen of Scots. What tales could that tree tell us ? As a youngster it witnessed the English Civil War and the execution of King Charles I. As an adolescent it enjoyed the culture surrounding the Hanoverian times. Then as an adult it looked on as Queen Victoria visited Stowe. I wonder if the café was open for her to buy a cup of tea !

Fast forward four hundred years to 2421; what stories will those tree planted today be able to tell ? They will begin by talking of the £5 gift to the National Trust’s tree planting ambition which made life possible for each of them. They can then talk about that team planting them. Perhaps even they may talk about my witnessing the start of their life in The National Trust’s jewel in the crown that is Stowe.

PS:

For every 100 people who read this blog I will plant an additional tree with The nationmal Trust.

To buy the paperback edition of PLANT A TREE 'TIL SEVENTY-THREE it will set you back £7.99 and for the e-book edition £1.99. For either version, for every book sale I will dip into my pocket and pay for a tree to be planted by The Nat ional Trust.

Coming soon my next blog featuires my visit to Canons Ashby on Friday 17th November.