Derelict Sunday - Tortworth Arboretum

When we first moved here at the turn of the millenniennienniumnum it was our pleasure to wander through Tortworth Arboretum, filled with marvellous specimens and though smaller as lovely as the national Arboretum down the road at Westonbirt. A few years later it was sold off and much of it became "off limits", so we walked elsewhere.

Today, we decided to wander the short public right of way that threads through the woodland and were frankly dismayed to see what poor condition it now has. I gather there is a forest school leasing the arboretum, and perhaps they are more interested in bushcraft than arboriculture. The trees are there, but unmanaged they are dying off and are almost lost behind bramble and feral bamboo.

Wild woodlands tend to manage themselves quite well thank you, but this isn't such a place. Time is removing the arboretum from the landscape and allowing wilderness to prevail. In part, this is "a good thing", but it was sad to see how a treasure such as it was has fallen to apparent disregard.