Re-visiting rural roots

For the second year in a row, I headed to a muddy field on the banks of a rural stretch of the Thames to look at a big old tree for my birthday.

My long-suffering fiance now knows better than to worry if I'm being coy when I insist that all I want for my birthday is to visit this place. Rain, hail or shine, the Ankerwycke Yew tree captivates me.

I think it's magical that under the Heathrow flight-path and just 10 minutes drive from the bustling hub of Windsor, this majestic tree - and living witness to the signing of the Magna Carta over 800 years ago - stands unassumingly alongside cow paddocks.

Come Christmas Eve 2020 I hope that many things will have changed (namely the current situation of the global Covid-19 pandemic), but Ankerwycke is one thing I take comfort in knowing will have remained the same.