In the 1970s Dutch Elm Disease hit Britain and wiped out all our Elm trees. Not only were they an important part of our countryside and hedgerows but they could be found in parks and roads throughout our towns and cities. The disease wiped out 25 million of Britain’s trees. This row of Wheatley Elms was alongside a golf course and no sooner had one died than the rest all followed suit.
In 1981 we went on holiday to a farmhouse in the Midlands. At one time it had been surrounded by trees but this was the only one left – all the rest were stumps and this one was about to be taken down.
Nowadays the famous ‘tweety-pie’ shape of the English Elm is only to be found in old paintings.
