A Few Missed Trees

I've included 4 Monkey Puzzle trees here which for various reasons I didn't get to post about when I first saw them. The funniest one has to be the one in Kentish Town that happens to be just 2 doors down from my dentist's surgery that I somehow kept failing to see when passing by!

I'm also pleased to say that I have managed to completely update the 'Map Of The Quest So Far' and will continue to do so in future. I have also started work again on the sister blog that catalogue's the trees I've seen!

Watton At Stone

The Cut Waterloo

Weymouth

Kentish Town Road

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 556

Gloucestershire 2017

Travelling back from Wales to break up the journey and have a look around the area me & Nat stopped off in Lydney, Gloucestershire. It's a really beautiful part of the country and also a productive Monkey Puzzle area with 6 different trees being seen. Though Nathalie's highlight were the sheep that were roaming free around the villages with no care in the World!

Cannop 1

Edge End 1

Ruardean Hill 1

Bream 1

Mitcheldean 1

Carefree Sheep

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 552

Wales 2017

Our trip to Wales covered mostly Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire where I managed to spot 13 more Monkey Puzzle trees. Sadly two of the trees had had their tops chopped off, I can only assume in order to allow more light to get to the upper floors of the house they were planted in front of. This is what often happens when people don't realise that the small spiky Monkey Puzzle tree they are planting will one day grow up to be a beautiful giant.

The spotting was my favourite kind, basically looking out for Monkey Puzzle trees when driving. The rush of seeing one, stopping, reversing if necessary and then capturing with a photo is probably the most random fun a nut like me can get.

Chepstow 1

Boncath 1a

Boncath 1b

Sarnau 1

Trelech 1

Carmarthen 1a

Carmarthen 1b

Blaen-y-coed 1

Carmarthen 2

Carmarthen 3

Crymych 1a

Crymych 1b

Mathry 1

Saron 1a

Saron 1b

Newcastle Emlyn 1a

Newcastle Emlyn 1b

Pentrecagal 1

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 546

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 2017

So 2017 saw us travelling to Pembrokeshire in Wales and a short stopover in Gloucester for our annual holiday. Whilst there we visited the National Botanical Garden Of Wales where I knew there was a field of Monkey Puzzle trees to be seen. The Gardens decided to take part in the Transglobal tree planting conservation project as part of the celebrations of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. 100 trees were planted but sadly only 60 have survived, still a real treat to visit for any Monkey Puzzle fan and enough to take me past the 500 trees seen milestone!

National Botanical Garden Of Wales

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 1

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 2

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 3

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 4

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 5

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 6

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 7

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 8

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 9

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 10

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 11

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 12

National Botanical Garden Of Wales 13

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 533

Bicton College & Devon 2016

Returning from our holiday in Cornwall me & Nat decided to split the journey home by stopping off in Devon for one night.  This meant we were able to visit probably one of the most iconic group of Monkey Puzzle Trees in Britain, the Bicton College Avenue.

Originally planted in 1844 the avenue was the longest in Europe at nearly 500m. It truly is an awe inspiring group of Monkey Puzzle trees, with a mix of old and newer trees. Whilst we were checking out all the wonderful trees the college's groundsman approached asking what we doing. Once we'd explained about my (our?) obsession he was not only happy to let us carry on he told me if I wanted one I could have one he'd grown form the avenue's seeds!  Not needing to be asked twice I seized the opportunity and am now the proud custodian of an ancestor of the Bicton College Monkey Puzzle Tree avenue!  Three more trees were seen during our brief stopover in Devon, two outside a pub just down the road from the college and one spotted from our B'n'B in the far distance.

Bicton College

Bicton College 1

Bicton College 2

Bicton College 3

Bicton College 4

Bicton College 5

Bicton College 6

Bicton College 7

Bicton College 8

Bicton College 9

Bicton College 10

Bicton College 11

Bicton College 12

Bicton College 13

Bicton College 14

Bicton College 15

Bicton College 16

Bicton College 17

Bicton College 18

Branscombe

Colaton Raleigh

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 473