A devoted farmer painstakingly planted a tribute to his late wife, Janet Howes, using 6,000 oak trees to etch out a giant heart in the middle of his field in South Gloucestershire, England.
Winston Howes, 70, and a gardener spent weeks planning and setting out each oak after his wife died suddenly 15 years ago. He planted the fledgling trees across a six-acre field after carefully marking out a heart shape in one-half of the grass, with the heart pointing in the direction of her childhood home.
The stunning crop was captured in its full beauty after a balloonist sailed over the farmhouse and photographed the field from the air.
“I came up with the idea of creating a heart in the clearing of the field after Janet died,” said Howes.
“I thought it was a great idea – it was a flash on inspiration – and I planted several thousand oak trees. Once it was completed we put a seat in the field, overlooking the hill near where she used to live. I sometimes go down there, just to sit and think about things. It is a lovely and lasting tribute to her which will be here for years,” Howes added.
Howes, who owns a 45-hectare farm near Wickwar, south Gloucestershire, decided to seed housewife Janet’s legacy after she died from heart failure in 1995, aged 50.
He created with the wood using small oak trees next to his farmhouse in the months after her death – marking out an acre-long heart with a large bushy hedge.
The entrance to the secret heart is only accessible from a track leading up to its tip.
Howes said:
“We got people in especially to do it – there are several thousand trees. We planted large oak trees around the edge of the heart then decided to put a hedge around it too.”
“The heart points towards Wotton Hill, where Janet is from. We plant daffodils in the middle that come up in the spring – it looks great. I go out there from time to time and sit in the seat I created,” Howes added.
After more than 20 years of growth, the tall trees and hedges hide this touching tribute, which can only be seen by the aerial view. And that’s exactly how it was discovered, by hot air balloonist, Andy Collett.
He toldThe DailyMail: “It was a perfect heart hidden away from view – you would not know it was there. You can just imagine the love story.”
Source: OpposingViews, Daily Mail
