Tuesday 29th December, 2009

The Wigtwizzle Chestnut in the snow

By Ash

The venerable veteran of Wigtwizzle – a sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) of considerable age and girth.

These photos are from a couple of Sundays ago when, driving home over the moors, I was ambushed by much snow. I couldn’t resist stopping for a few piccies.

These beeches (Fagus sylvatica) grow in the adjacent parkland that once surrounded Broomhead Hall.

tags: European beech + photos + sweet chestnut + winter

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5 comments for The Wigtwizzle Chestnut in the snow

tammie

30 Dec 2009 20:59:16

such incredible trees, thank you for sharing their beauty!

acountrypunk

1 Mar 2010 00:27:22

this is an awesome tree. i must visit it someday. also, i have a question. as a tree-lover and tree-visitor and yorkshire-person you might be able to help. have you ever come across a sweet chestnut in the north of england/scotland which produces nuts worth eating? big tasty ones? i'm sure there must be a few chestnuts hiding in the hills which are able to give us edible nuts in the cold, wet, windswept north.

Ash

1 Mar 2010 15:49:53

I can't say I've ever come across a chestnut around here with decent sized nuts. They've always been about the size of the ones in this post. Obviously Britain's climate is not conducive to the growth of large chestnuts, although there may be favourable microclimates around, as you mention on your blog. Then again, I've read that the trees grown abroad to produce edible nuts are special cultivars (selected to produce just one large nut per cupule); the chestnuts growing wild in the UK are probably uncultivated.

Reece

2 Mar 2010 18:33:27

In the UK, you don't get many big chestnuts. Even in the south, they're not incredibly big.
The chestnuts over here are only good for growing chestnut trees.

acountrypunk

17 Mar 2010 11:03:23

I just heard about a chestnut tree in (of all places) the car park of Lidl in Aberystwyth: apparently it produces whoppers. Who'd have thought? I imagine it's a cultivar that escaped. You'll see me there next autumn, kicking through the leaves.

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