The outrageous felling of the Sycamore Gap tree

One August afternoon, my dad, my uncle, and I were walking along Hadrian’s Wall. It was pouring. Our shoes were full of water, our glasses had steamed up, and our pac-a-macs were sticking to our bodies. 

Seemingly out of nowhere, we came upon a little dip in the cliff, within which was nestled a tall tree. We stopped under the cover of its wide branches and five-lobed leaves and ate our ham and cheese sandwiches. There was no one else in sight and we had this beautiful part of Northumberland to ourselves. 

That tree was called the Sycamore Gap, and yesterday a vandal cut it down. 100-foot high and 300 years old – it was slashed down in an instant with a chainsaw. 

People, particularly in Northumberland, are outraged. The Sycamore Gap was a popular place for marriage proposals and was one of the most-photographed landscapes in Britain.