R.I.P. Cedar Tree

What do you do if you are a Prince and your favourite tree dies? You have a memorial pavilion built around the stump to start with.... Prince Charles' 200 year old Cedar of Lebanon tree was 60 feet high and was a stunning focal point for his house and garden at his organic farm at Highgrove. Sadly, the tree developed a fungus and had to be felled. The answer to what to do was given to an environmental architect who specialises in ecological buildings. There was a young oak tree already growing by the stump so the architect, Mark Hoare, wanted to create a design that would surround the remnant of the trunk and allow the new oak to grow. The wood from the dead tree was full of knots and couldn't be recycled but he dismantled the tree carefully and furniture can be made of the old wood.

The new building is made from oak from the farm's woodland. The bottom part is covered with oak roof tiles and has a hole for the new tree to grow through and another one where the one remaining bough of the tree remains--temporarily. Apparently the Prince has a collection of oriental bird feeders and they will hang from it. The spire is 32 feet high and mirrors a neighbouring church spire. There are openings for birds to nest and alight. In time the bough will die and the oak tree will take its place. So the whole structure is organic in its own right. :: The Telegraph