The Queen’s Green Canopy: Ancient Woodlands and Trees – Adrian Houston, Charles Sainsbury-Plaice 

Description: The Queen’s Green Canopy is a beautiful photography book showcasing 70 ancient trees and 70 ancient woodlands dedicated by the QGC initiative in honour of Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.

The book features extraordinary photographs of the United Kingdom’s best-loved trees, many of which inspired historic figures, artists and writers through the centuries.

Alongside these photographs are short written pieces from contributors including Dame Judi Dench, Alan Titchmarsh, Dame Joanna Lumley, Adam Henson, Archbishop Justin Welby and Danny Clarke, as well as conservation experts from the Woodland Trust and the Duchy of Cornwall. In these pieces they reflect on the trees that have made a mark on their lives and the importance of protecting Britain’s woodlands for future generations.

Selected trees include yews at a Cotswold’s church which inspired JRR Tolkien; the apple tree believed to have inspired Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity; the Five Hundred Acre Wood in East Sussex immortalised in AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh books; and the 2,500-year-old tree where Henry VIII may have proposed to Anne Boleyn.

So far 3 million trees have been planted by communities, schools and businesses across the country as part of the QGC initiative. Through incredible imagery and joyful pieces of writing, The Queen’s Green Canopy celebrates Her Majesty’s extraordinary life and the amazing legacy she leaves behind.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-queens-green-canopy/adrian-houston/charles-sainsbury-plaice/9781529909104

Review

This sumptuous book is packed full of the most glorious photography, over the course of a year 140 trees and woodlands dedicated to Her late Majesty were captured in stunning detail by photographers Adrian Houston and Charles Sainsbury-Plaice.

The content is built around the following sections:

Introduction 
Winter
Spring
Summer
Autumn

The photographs of the trees and woodlands are accompanied by a name and description placing the tree, or woodland in its locality and detailing information about its history. The photography is outstanding, with the most atmospheric and beautiful images of trees in all their beauty and glory.  But it is also the personal comments shared by different contributors about their own affinity with trees that is often most poignant and thought-provoking.  Like many people suggest in this book, planting a tree in someone’s memory is a wonderful way of not only remembering them but also encouraging our tree-planting heritage for future generations.