This is a beautiful Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) that grew in the garden of my older sister and her husband.

Scot’s pine (Pinus sylvestris).

It had had quite a few boughs cut off over the years, and I always thought it looked like it could be from a Japanese or Chinese painting, with its beautiful shape.

Sadly, they had to have it cut down a few years after I took this photo, as it was diseased. As pine is a very resiny wood, and they live in a thatched cottage, the terms of their home insurance don’t allow them to burn pine, and so … we have been given lots of the wood from the tree, which we are gradually burning in our wood-burning stove. So thank you, tree. (And thank you R, for chopping up all the wood!)