Tree Trails and Tales

About Tree Trails and Tales

Are you and your family interested in trees and nature? If you are then the Northumbria veteran tree project audio guide (work in progress) is perfect for you. It will give you the opportunity to find out more about the Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside area as well as discovering our region’s amazing trees.

This tree trail app, will take you on a circular tour of some of the impressive parks, gardens and estates in our region. It will enable you to find out about the special tree species you encounter, the folklore associated with them, their characteristics and their associations. The unique presentation will also help you discover their links to social history and their relationship with the natural world.

Our special trails are voiced by local people and local schools and community groups have been engaged with and contribute to the ongoing work of the project. The audio trails are set in local parks and public estates (so far Heaton Park in Newcastle with more planned), they guide the listener on a route around the park noting on the way significant veteran, ancient or notable trees. The audio accompaniment allows the listener to discover the exciting and very special world of trees and hear what links them to local social history and events. Tales are relayed from the perspective of the tree to give a unique insight to local history.

The app has been designed as part of a wider Heritage Lottery funded project the ‘Northumbria Veteran Tree Project’ which aims to raise awareness of ancient, veteran and notable trees across the regions of Newcastle, North Tyneside and county of Northumberland, enabling us to contribute to their long-term management and survival. These trails are just one of the tools we have employed to fulfil that aim, engagement with the public has been key e.g. delivering talks to local groups and providing training for volunteers in order that they too are able to discover, measure and submit their own data on trees to add to our website map and gallery page. We continue to work with local and national organisations, local authorities and of course in particular the local gardens and estates where the trails can be found. The project has a significant link to the Woodland Trusts ancient tree inventory.
Families may be interested to note that school engagement is part of the work of the project using a ‘Talking Trees’ presentation which we thank Siren for allowing us to use and adapt. This helps children discover the amazing world of trees, go on to adopt their own special tree, measure and then add that tree to our website and gallery pages.

We continue to look for trees to add to our data base and need all the help we can get with that process. We have already recorded many significant trees including those linked to local history such as the ancient Collingwood oaks in the College valley, the veteran Verdun chestnut in Northumberland Park, and of course the iconic tree at Sycamore gap.

So, if you have followed our trails, listened to our tales, and you know of a special tree with its own story to tell, if it enhances the landscape, is linked to an historical event or just brightens your day, don’t hesitate to let us know, we would love to hear about your tree!

Please find more information and contact details via our website at veterantreeproject.com