Visitors travelling along Scorcher Hills Lane have long been welcomed to the village by the sight of a dead tree. Right by the village sign, it resembled something out of wild west movie, ‘Welcome to Dry Gulch population 245’.
The poor thing expired many moons ago but has hung on in its derelict state looking like a sculpture by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. But no more for it is now a gone tree. Difficult to assess its original form and species, the stark grey skeleton was a little unwelcoming in the daylight and positively scary in the headlights at night, just me then.
Removing a tree is not as easy as it sounds, and rightly so. The hedges and trees in the village come under the scrutiny of the DMBC hedgerow and trees chaps. They gave it a close scrutiny and declared it dead but safe. But then with all the recent rain the upright bits, having no roots to grip mother earth, wobbled displaying an increased desire to become horizontal. The rest is history.