The Yorkshire Vet: Lucy Pittaway Sycamore Gap Trail shows life does go on - Julian Norton

“Can you help?” he said, thrusting his mobile phone towards me. “I can’t switch off this blasted sat nav.” It was tracking his on-foot journey from his car towards the bacon and sausage sandwich and was insisting that he did a U-turn. I pressed a few buttons but couldn’t help. I find it difficult enough to manage my own phone, with all its supposedly useful, but actually baffling functions, let alone someone else’s.

I hope he managed to sort it out and that it didn’t spoil his breakfast. A bit later, it was me relying on the satnav as I typed in my next destination, and I was tight for time. I needed to recheck a cat who had sustained a nasty eye injury as a result of a fight with another cat who had ventured onto his patch. Luckily the perforation seemed to be healing and just needed some more drops before I leapt into my car, slightly late, to head to Swinton Park where I was expected. I was helping my friend Lucy Pittaway with the opening of the new “Lucy Pittaway Sycamore Gap Trail”.

I had chatted with Lucy about this at the inception of her idea. It was shortly after the egregious vandalism in September 2023, of the iconic sycamore tree at a notch on the horizon where Hadrian’s wall once marked the northern extent of the Roman Empire. Lucy had painted an equally iconic picture of the tree, with the Northern Lights overhead, to commemorate its beauty and the enormous presence of nature. For each copy of the print sold, Lucy promised to plant another tree, ensuring that something good would come of this mindless crime. And that nature would, in the end, win; as it always does.

A patch of land next to the Druid’s Temple on the Swinton Estate has provided the perfect home for the new saplings. Parts of the existing woodland were decimated by a disease affecting the larch and so the area had been cleared. One thousand new trees have now been planted and a wonderful trail has been created through the new plantation. There are six different varieties of sycamore (I didn’t know there were six different types of sycamore), some small and others larger, along with various other native trees.

There is an archway at the entrance, made of logs and with metalwork by local blacksmith James Wilkinson. The logs will provide a haven for natural pollinators and beetles, not that this forest needs to offer much more to help biodiversity. The trail is short, but meanders through the new woods. There is some natural artwork, too. A living willow sculpture will grow and evolve, and there are wicker baskets hanging from trees like huge wasps’ nests – a perfect habitat in which birds can make their nests.

It’s a place most definitely worth a visit. I’ve been to many beautiful parts of Yorkshire, but this place is more tranquil than most. Over the years, the small trees will grow and mature – a sure indication that life does go on and a reminder that resilience and renewal are inherent in nature. This trail stands as a tribute to the spirit of that lost tree.

After the opening, with the obligatory photos for social media and websites and short interviews with the press completed, everyone reconvened at the nearby Swinton Bivouac where afternoon tea was waiting. The perfect end to a lovely afternoon.