‘on a misty, still morning, you could feel the magic in the air’
The Sycamore Gap Tree obviously was very well known, especially in this area in Northumberland. For me and my husband, it was mostly from the film Robin Hood and even though my husband was from Northumberland, he had never visited it until we had our children. So, the twice that we went was as a family, bizarrely.
The first time we went was, we were wholly unprepared. The weather wasn’t very good and we got there very early, there was no-one else there and we had two quite small children and we were walking in the rain and we were doubting ourselves as parents and as adults, what were we doing? And then as you walk the wall, all of a sudden you came to this magnificent tree right in the middle of it and it was amazing and it felt really, really special and we were so proud of ourselves and pleased with ourselves that we had gone there. And it felt really significant as a family that we’d done it together, we all saw it for the first time together.
John was a Forest School Leader and he loved being outside and loved trees and I think he especially drew an awful lot from being there. It felt like a magical place and I think, you can imagine, the history that had gone on around it and especially on a misty, still morning, you could feel the magic in the air, I think.
The second time we went, it was a very warm day. As you know Northumberland has a variety of weathers, but equally there was not anyone else on the path with us when we went and we were able to see the tree again in all its beautiful glory with its green leaves. It just felt really special and I think the outpouring that came when it got cut down shows how important it was for the area and it wasn’t just ‘a tree’ it meant a lot to a lot of people. And we felt that as a family when it got cut down and John was devastated when it got cut down and, obviously, he didn’t live to hear what the outcome was of the court case. And that our bereavement group now is part of the legacy and that is incredible. And that we’re now part of preserving the Sycamore Tree and continuing it is yeah, I could never have imagined that and it’s definitely a positive out of something terrible.
This print is a photo from the first time we went. In it you can really clearly see my husband and our son, but actually on the tree trunk our daughter is also there hiding from the rain, because the weather was not very nice and she was very small and had, you know, struggled as we all had because we’re not really hill walkers and didn’t really know what we were getting into. My husband got it made into a print, which is not something he’d ever done before, for our house. So it shows what a special moment it was for him and for us and it now stays in my son’s room and, obviously, now that my husband is no longer around, yeah, it’s a gorgeous memory.
I think he would be so incredibly proud now that there’s going to be a sapling where we live and that the children and I are part of that and so is he, very much. I think it is going to be a really special place to keep going to remember him and it’s, obviously the tree’s going to outlive us all, so it feels that we are creating some new history, I think.
Aimie Strachan was interviewed in 2025 as part of the Trees of Hope project.