Tree plant at Knightshayes during Tree Week

In celebration of National Tree Week, there will be tree planting in conjunction with the Tiverton Tree Team at Knightshayes this November to help boost the impressive tree collection that calls Knightshayes its home.

The planting, taking place on Saturday 30 November will help to replace the three mature oak trees which were taken out from the bottom of the driveway in October last year due to tree disease being identified at their base. The disease known as Ganoderma, a tree fungus, degraded the tree from the base upwards, and from the outside can be hard to detect, as the trees would otherwise look healthy. The ranger team at Knightshayes discovered evidence of the presence of the disease on one of their annual tree surveys and as a result the trees were sadly removed.

They will be replaces with a combination of species, including elms, after a photo showing a historical elm avenue was discovered in the property archives. As a result, a mixture of oak and elm will be planted on either side of the drive, giving a good mix of species which will hopefully result in healthy trees- which will future proof the avenue in case of new tree diseases in years to come.

Tiverton Tree Team have recently formed in response to national and international calls to plant trees to mitigate against climate change and loss of biodiversity and habitat. As a group, they have taken on the challenge of rousing local volunteers and groups to assist in a community project, carefully planting several thousand trees this winter, spread over several sites in and around Tiverton and the local villages. 

Knightshayes, a National Trust property on the outskirts of Tiverton, has been no stranger to tree disease itself, however, the care and dedication of the ranger team there has seen the trees go from strength to strength, including being awarded national champion status for 18 of their trees, as well as be having 50 ancient and veteran trees.

For more information about Knightshayes, please visithttps://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/knightshayes