{"id":795506,"date":"2026-10-08T03:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/795506\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T03:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:30:10","slug":"bendy-elm-still-standing-against-all-odds-crowned-uk-tree-of-the-year-trees-and-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/795506\/","title":{"rendered":"Bendy elm still standing against all odds crowned UK tree of the year | Trees and forests"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201castonishing and bizarre\u201d Bendy Tree in Northern Ireland<\/a> has been crowned the winner of this year\u2019s tree of the year competition.<\/p>\n

The wych elm tree, located in Newcastle, County Down, owes its name to its near horizontal trunk, which has grown sideways owing to the strong seaside winds coming off the Irish Sea.<\/p>\n

The 150-year-old tree has resisted Dutch elm disease, a fungus that has destroyed most of the UK\u2019s 30m elms, making it a worthy winner of the competition\u2019s \u201cagainst the odds\u201d theme.<\/p>\n

The tree was originally planted in the mid-19th century as part of a row of wych elms along the town\u2019s promenade to shelter the main street from sea winds. Many of those trees were felled during redevelopments of the town, with the bendy tree now the last one standing.<\/p>\n

Newcastle\u2019s bendy elm. Photograph: Michael Cooper<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at this astonishing and bizarre tree, there\u2019s no doubt about what it has endured,\u201d said May Chemais, ancient tree inventory lead for the Woodland Trust, the charity that runs the annual competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve all been through changes and hardships that have shaped who we are: I think that\u2019s why the Bendy Tree has struck a chord with people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For John Martin, director of the Woodland Trust NI, it is the whimsical nature of the tree that makes it a worthy winner.<\/p>\n

Having grown up visiting Newcastle as a child, Martin recalls seeing the tree out of the corner of his eye and being surprised to see a tree growing this way.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou expect nature to behave in a certain way and we would expect a tree, most of the time, to grow upwards, whereas this one has grown sideways,\u201d he said. \u201cI guess it gives people a bit of a smile on their day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tree\u2019s unusual shape has also provided welcome shade to residents and visitors resting on the bench located beneath its branches.<\/p>\n

\u201cOlder trees like this one are providing our communities with so much \u2013 from shade, wellbeing and health benefits, to stories, culture and pride of place,\u201d said Chemais.<\/p>\n

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Crowhurst Yew in Crowhurst, Surrey. Photograph: Lee Cooper<\/p>\n

Other trees nominated in this year\u2019s competition included the Crowhurst Yew in Crowhurst, Surrey, England. Villagers hollowed out the trunk in 1820 to create a parish meeting room within the tree. The roof of this room collapsed during a storm in 1845, but the tree lived on, with the wooden door to the secret room remaining to this day.<\/p>\n

Also in the top 10 shortlist was the Culmstock Yew in Culmstock, Devon, England. This tree is perched on top a 20-metre high church tower, with its existence pre-dating residents\u2019 living memories.<\/p>\n

Culmstock Yew in Devon. Photograph: Lee Cooper<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s honour went to a 75ft ash tree<\/a> that shades homes on one of Glasgow\u2019s busiest roads.<\/p>\n

The Woodland Trust has this week launched its Igniting Innovation competition for anyone aged 16 to 25 to share their ideas for projects that could benefit nature and make life better for woods, trees and people.<\/p>\n

Three winners will receive \u00a35,000 in funding and up to a year of expert mentoring to bring their projects to life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201castonishing and bizarre\u201d Bendy Tree in Northern Ireland has been crowned the winner of this year\u2019s tree…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-795506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795506","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=795506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}