One week ago I arrived in Lincoln with eight fellow riders after completing a 180-mile cycle from London to celebrate the launch of the new Charter for Trees, Woods & People. Read More
The cycle of trees, woods and people
In January this year I wrote about the 800th year anniversary of the Charter of the Forest, in the form of the new Charter for Trees, Woods and People – read my earlier post. The launch of the new Charter is now just one week away, taking place in Lincoln Castle on Monday 6th November. Since… Read More
John Jeffrey rediscovered
In 1849 an influential group of subscribers came together under the care of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) to sponsor a plant-hunter, John Jeffrey, and support his ambitious expedition to North America in 1850. But after his mysterious disappearance, just four years later, he was soon all-but-forgotten. I’m delighted to announce that the little-known exploits of John Jeffrey will be celebrated in public for the first time, fittingly in a new collaboration with RBGE. Read More
Students see the math in nature
I was pleased to donate one of my images with a link to my web-page on measuring tree height for the new STEM Garden at Wilson Botanical Gardens in North Carolina. Read More
Green Gold – a new book in the making
I’m excited to announce the funding launch of my latest book. Green Gold is a biographical fiction novel featuring the extraordinary but little-known true story of John Jeffrey, a young Victorian tree hunter. Read More
Talking resilient woods on BBC Radio
I was interviewed recently about work I am helping lead on the British Woodlands Survey with the Sylva Foundation— this year exploring adaptation to environmental change. The piece was featured this morning BBC Radio 4 Farming Today. Read More
Auction of Special Edition Prints from The New Sylva
The drawings in The New Sylva were created by internationally-renowned artist Sarah Simblet while she was artist-in-residence for environmental charity the Sylva Foundation. Now a selection of 80 special edition prints are being auctioned to raise money for its charitable activities. About the Special Edition Prints Artist Sarah Simblet rarely sells her work as prints.… Read More
Cream of the crop
” . . . any gardener or naturalist could only be delighted to be given The New Sylva: A Discourse of Forest & Orchard Trees for the 21st Century by Gabriel Hemery and Sarah Simblet (Bloomsbury, £50), renovating John Evelyn’s classic, Sylva, of 1664. Beautifully illustrated with black-and-white pen-and-ink drawings by Simblet, it sets out… Read More
Book features in The Washington Post
[The] “New Sylva” bespeaks a cultural relationship with the tree that may be missing in other societies and has to do with the way trees are permitted to grow old in Britain — as in centuries old — and the way they inhabit a seamless terrain between close-set garden, park and countryside. Adrian Higgins The… Read More
The New Sylva wins major award for design and production
The New Sylva has won an award in the British Book Design and Production Awards 2014. In the category for general non-fiction, known as “trade illustrated”, it won against stiff competition to secure the prize. The judge’s comments: The New Sylva is beautifully designed and produced. The stunning and delicate illustrations are printed onto a… Read More
