John and Rosie Palmer, Wimborne, Dorset
[Driving down an access track in a red Landrover]
JOHN
When I was a kid I used to live in Worksop, and Sherwood Forest was about 10 or 15 miles South, and my parents used to take me to see Sherwood Forest and see this big tree in the middle called the Major Oak and -- I don't know -- there was something about it, it just excited me. Then I moved South, I moved to Dorset, but we went on a holiday in Scotland and walked round a little village there and this guy was trying to grow little oak trees from acorns and I thought "That's a good idea, why don't I have a go at that?" But first of all we had to get the acorns and I thought we might as well get some good acorns so October 2000 we went back to Sherwood Forest and got ourselves 500 acorns from the Major Oak.
[Through 2 gates into a large grass field]
[stands by a fenced-off Nursery in the field]
ROSIE
We had to go after dark 'cos officially one isn't allowed to collect acorns, not supposed to enter the enclosure of the Major Oak, so we had to go after dark and just collect acorns as fast as possible.
INTERVIEWER
So this was a criminal act actually wasn't it?
JOHN
I don't like to say but I feel that the end justifies the means in this case. We planted 140 at the far end of the field in February, and we're planting another 80 at this end of the field in about a fortnight's time.
PRESENTER
Obsessive maybe. But 800,000 visitors a year make their pilgrimage to the major Oak.
Adam Goodall and Norman Lewis, Sherwood Forest Trust, Nottinghamshire
[Looking up at the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest]
NORMAN
This tree means a lot of things to a lot of people, not just from the local area, Nottinghamshire, but world wide really, visitors come to Sherwood Forest from America, from China, from the whole globe, just to see this tree and the legend it holds with Robin Hood, and of course Sherwood Forest is almost a brand name.
ADAM
Its locally said to be anything, 700, 800 years, but the Forestry Commission's dendrologist who is an expert at aging yhese things thinks its probably nearer 1100 years old
NORMAN
But its managed to survive and I just find it ...
ADAM
When the Saxons were invading this country this tree was growing. And still in very good health. Incredible when you look around at Forest trees half this age, very stag-headed, still very much alive but nowhere near the same canopy that this tree has managed to keep.
[Examining fallen acorns under the Major Oak]
INTERVIEWER
What I love is the huge whopping great acorns.
NORMAN
Yes, the ground is absolutely covered with acorns isn't it?
INTERVIEWER
Its fabulous.
[Examines a sprouting acorn]
NORMAN
And if we just pick one up here, look, you can see that in a very short period of time they start to put out their first root, essentially their tap root, the acorns will grow, that will penetrate the soil for the winter, stop growing, and in the spring that's when the first proper shoot will grow
that will form the oak tree that we see.
PRESENTER
200 miles South, John's pipedream is now a full-time pre-occupation.
John and Rosie Palmer, Wimborne, Dorset
[Looking round a grassy field with stock fencing]
JOHN
I had to have deer fencing all the way round the perimeter.
INTERVIEWER
That cost you a pretty penny?
JOHN
Yes, it did
INTERVIEWER
So lets get back to square one. You bought the piece of land, or your brother did?
JOHN
I bought this 7 acre field off him.
INTERVIEWER
How much did that set you back?
JOHN
17,000
INTERVIEWER
And then you had to put the fencing in?
JOHN
4,000
PRESENTER
Did our hero in Lincoln Green find refuge here? And if its been hollow for centuries, how come its still standing?
Adam Goodall and Norman Lewis, Sherwood Forest Trust, Nottinghamshire.
[Looking up at the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest]
ADAM
In the past people thought that if a tree starts to hollow then its in dire straits and the end is in sight. But in actual fact the fungi that do it are probably actually working in association with the tree, and recycling. Whilst we say that this tree is 1100 years old, its not really, because most of what we can see is comparatively recent. The tree is growing outwards all the time, the middle is decomposing and being recycled and goes back into the ground.
PRESENTER
The Victorians propped up its branches, the Palmers pinched its acorns, and in Loughborough Barbara and Neil Wright have spent years ensuring the Major Oak will never die, by cloning its tiny buds. Remember Dolly the sheep? A honey jar filled with secret compound, a bud sterilised in bleach, and a mini-Major Oak is born.
Neil and Barbara Wright, Loughborough, Leicestershire.
[Inside an indusrial-size greenhouse, examining a jar containing gell and a growing sample]
BARBARA
And this is how it would look after several weeks, with the shoot grown up, and then we would take that because it uses up the nutrient in that gel, so we have to put it onto fresh medium every few weeks, and after a few weeks we've managed to chop it up and spread it out a little bit more.
NEIL
But the Eureka moment was when we managed to get roots on one of them, and we actually had a whole tree again.
[standing by an oak bush]
INTERVIEWER
Aha, here's one you planted earler, Neil! In your own back garden.
NEIL
Yes, this we planted about 10 years ago. And its doing extremely well now.
John and Rosie Palmer, Wimborne, Dorset
[Working a bucket on a pulley and ropes]
JOHN
We have to draw 300 litres every day, to keep the trees watered. Just think this tree might be here for 500 years, so this is quite important.
INTERVIEWER
You've got all the trees numbered?
JOHN
All the ones we've got planted, yes, from A1 up to S8. In fact we've run out of letters for them. So we're going to have Z11 and Z21 and so on.
INTERVIEWER
Voles may not be the only intruders. What's happened here then?
[examing a horizontal oak sappling]
JOHN
Well, its been chewed almost all the way through, almost all the way. Whether its a field vole, or whether its a squirrel, or something like that, I don't know, but this is part of our learning curve. I made a little perch, hopefully the hawks will come and land on here, and wait, listening for the little squeak, which I can hear but Rosie can't, and then they dive down and attack.
[opening a large tool-box]
INTERVIEWER
You haven't had anything nicked out of here?
ROSIE
So far so good, that's another reason why we've kept these things locked up, 'cos you never know, anyone could come in.
[standing by a tall oak sapling]
JOHN
This is our best tree, its called A8 which we've got written down there.
INTERVIEWER
Its taller than you Rosie!
JOHN
It is, how about that, taller than you.
INTERVIEWER
Must give you a great sense of achievement, to see them really sprouting?
JOHN
Wish I'd thought of this when I was 21.
INTERVIEWER
You mean it takes all your energy?
JOHN
Well, we won't be around to see them very big. They should reach maturity after 200 years, and in 200 years who knows whats going to happen to the climate, what's going to happen to the environment, whether this will be a housing estate, we've no idea.
[drives out of field in red Landrover]
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