{"id":648437,"date":"2026-06-20T05:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T05:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/648437\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T05:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T05:42:08","slug":"country-diary-for-the-beloved-ash-dome-death-is-not-the-end-trees-and-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/648437\/","title":{"rendered":"Country diary: For the beloved Ash Dome, death is not the end | Trees and forests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago when I visited the Ash Dome, it was an elegant, twisting circle of beautiful trees. Ten years ago, ash dieback had not yet reached this corner of Wales<\/a>. Returning now to this secret location, I steeled myself for\u00a0heartbreak. And there it was.<\/p>\n

Today, the Ash Dome, a living sculpture by the renowned artist David Nash<\/a>, is an elephant\u2019s graveyard. Pale, twisted limbs encircle a heap of dead branches. On a few trunks, new shoots spring\u00a0innocently upwards, but most are ailing, their bark white and flaky as dead skin.<\/p>\n

As a young man, disillusioned with the London art scene, Nash moved to Blaenau and began work\u00a0on this small piece of woodland belonging to his father. Ash Dome was his answer to the problem of how to create outdoor sculpture in wood. Instead of trying to preserve a form, why not grow it instead? So, in 1977, he planted a ring of 22 ash trees<\/a> that has since become a beloved artwork, featuring on a BBC Four ident<\/a>. It was, he says, \u201caimed at the 21st century\u201d. What he can\u2019t have predicted was both a fracturing climate and deadly fungus.<\/p>\n

Oak leaves thriving in front of one of the 22 ash trunks. Photograph: Feral Practice<\/p>\n

He walks up the mossy pathway to meet me. He greets the ashes as old friends and leans companionably against one, both man and tree weatherbeaten and timeworn. He explains that Ash Dome is primarily a piece of conceptual art. \u201cThis is outdoor sculpture that\u2019s actually of its place,\u201d he says. \u201cSo going back to that concept, I had to accept the fungus as a natural element.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than try to save the ashes, he decided to plant a ring of 22 oak trees around them. The oaks, now seven years old, are strong and healthy, though not yet ready to be fletched and pruned into shape: that is a task for David\u2019s sons and others after he and the ashes are gone.<\/p>\n

We stand together in the deep, green light of the wood, witnessing this slow metamorphosis. David has spent a lifetime working with\u00a0natural processes, shaping and encouraging rather than forcing. His response to their inevitable death is an act of creativity and grace. It\u2019s impossible to stay heartbroken. The Oak Dome is coming.<\/p>\n

\u2018David has spent a lifetime working with natural processes, shaping and encouraging rather than forcing.\u2019 Photograph: Feral Practice<\/p>\n

Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian\u2019s Country Diary, 2018-2024, is available now at guardianbookshop.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten years ago when I visited the Ash Dome, it was an elegant, twisting circle of beautiful trees.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-648437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}