Here are just some of the memories that you've sent us in recently about the Beech Avenue.
'Nanny Avenue'
I grew up in North Dorset, always living in the Blandford Forum/Sturminster Newton area as a child. My Nan and Grandad have always lived in Lymington in the New Forest, and we regularly visited them, travelling via Wimborne.
Part of the journey was through the magnificent Beech Avenue, and I soon started to call it 'Nanny's Avenue', because to me, it was close to my Nan's house. It is only as I got older (and started to stay awake for the duration of the journey!) that I realised the avenue was far closer to where I lived than my Nan - I think I must have always fallen asleep shortly after travelling through the avenue, seemingly arriving at my Nan's house soon after passing through it - hence me thinking it was very close to her house!
As soon as I learnt to drive and made the trip by myself to visit my Nan and Grandad, I would always look forward to driving through the avenue - especially in Autumn when the leaves where golden. Now that I have moved away from that area I do miss that wonderful feeling as you pass through those grand old trees.
Miss G Hall
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'Spooky trees'
My first memory of the trees happened when I was seven. It was night and we were driving to my godmother's house. On the cassette player was a mix tape of my dad's favourite tracks. One of my favourite songs came on, Argent's 'Hold Your Head Up'. Just as we entered the trees the extended organ solo came on and combined with the surroundings, the area was forever known as the '[S]pooky trees' and is still one of my favourite places to drive through.
Miss E Jefferies
Shoe polish secret
I was born at Blanford Cottage Hospital in 1944, and for the first two years we lived with my grandparents, Jack and Ethel Dart in 'The house on the hill', Swanway Cottage in Swan lane off the Beeches. this was my Gran's home for 50 years
Eventually my parents and I moved to Bournemouth, but my younger brother and I spent all our school holidays at Gran's house. The Beeches, along with Badbury Rings and the surrounding fields were our playground. we climbed trees, collected sticks for Gran's fire and walked for miles. I remember often meeting an elderly man removing ivy from the trees to stop it killing them. There are some beech trees of about the same age in Swan Lane, with date and names carved into them by the American serviceman camped there during WWll. I remember wild strawberries growing there.
Every Friday Gran would walk down the lane and on to Tarrant Keynston to catch the bus into Blanford for her weeks' shopping. Under the roots of the tree at the bottom of the lane she kept shoe polish, rags, and brushes so she could clean her shoes before stepping onto the road. My husband and I recently stopped the car and investigated the base of the tree, but unfortunately so much earth had been dumped there that there was nothing to be seen. A find for future archaeologists perhaps? Although I have lived in many houses both here and abroad, Gran's house will always be 'home', and I will always have a special place in my heart for 'The Beeches'.
Mrs Pat Williams
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A picturesque commute
I travelled through ‘Beech Avenue’ literally thousands of times (from my home to my place of work and back) spanning a period from late 1985 to late 2005. During that period, I often thought to myself (and said to others), how lucky I thought I was to have such a picturesque route to and from work - The Avenue of Beech trees being the main inspiration for this sentiment.
When travelling in the Wimborne to Blandford direction on mornings in early summer, emerging from the end of the tunnel of trees (at the top of the hill running down to the crossroads by the ‘True Lovers Knot’ Pub) into the sunshine and seeing the cornfield poppies in the rolling fields beside the road, was uplifting. Inspite of this, there were a few mornings when I arrived at work and could not recall my journey (including travelling through the Avenue etc even though I knew I had!). On these occasions I used to think to myself, 'How blase is that?'
The Company I worked for quite often had Customers from overseas who wished to visit and see the products they were purchasing, being made at the Factory in Blandford. It was part of my job to collect them from wherever they arrived in the UK and transport them to and from the Factory. Invariably, (regardless of the direction from which we could have approached Blandford) I made sure that they travelled through and saw Beech Avenue with me narrating the history and the ‘one tree for each day of the year at each side of the Avenue*’ bit and invariably, they were suitably impressed!
* I know that I was not exaggerating, because back in the 1990s, the same company that I worked for, quoted and duly manufactured, indirectly for the National Trust, a total of 730 Tree-Guards. These Tree-Guards were placed around to protect two new lines of young Trees which were planted behind the existing lines of Trees. I understood (at the time) that the Avenue would eventually be made wider, when all of the existing Trees had gone and the new young trees had matured. Can anyone tell me if this is still the eventual intention?
Mr Frank Trollope
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