Wood from the tree will be recycled

Visitors to Westonbirt Arboretum are making the most of their last chance to see the monkey puzzle tree which will be cut down on Thursday.

The tree, thought to be one of the first planted at the site in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, by its founder, has been ravaged by a number of wood-decaying fungi.

The diseases mean the impressive specimen is beyond help and will have to be felled.

Painstaking process

Westonbirt's head forester Phil Moreton said: "One of the reasons it is called a monkey puzzle tree is it is very sharp.

"It is said monkeys can't climb them because they scratch their heads - it is going to be a prickly, hard job for our lads."

Mr Moreton said the felling would be a painstaking process.

"We can't just cut it and shout 'Timber!' as it would crash down onto the other trees we are trying to protect.

"We have to go up using ropes and harnesses and dismantle the tree piece by piece."

Lost records

Once the tree has been cut down foresters hope to be able to find out whether or not it was planted by Robert Holford, the arboretum's founder, in the 19th century.

Mr Moreton said: "Unfortunately when the site was split up we lost virtually all the planting records, so we don't know exactly how old the tree is.

"Once it has been cut down we can count the rings and find out whether it was one of the originals bought for the princely sum of �20 when that would have paid four gardeners' wages for a year."

It is hoped wood from the felled tree can be used to build a new visitor centre at Westonbirt's sister arboretum.

"The wood is quite valuable, so we hope some of it can be used at the National Pinetum in Kent, and other pieces will go to local craftsmen who will carve items from them."

The arboretum has 18,000 trees from all over the world in 600 acres of landscaped countryside.