The woodcutters and the beetles

It was a young sapling when Henry VIII met Francis of France in the field of the cloth of gold. 500 years later this ancient oak tree toppled over a victim of the Capricorn beetle. I came across George and Damian engaged in the huge task of chopping it all up.

This monster Oak tree would have been planted to provide timber for French navy or the grand palaces that are all over the Loire valley. Watching the two men at work every piece of firewood revealed the massive Capricorn beetles and their larvae that have feasted on this tree for decades. It’s a huge job and has taken the two men several weeks already. Of course I had a go! Result? A little dent. One swing of the axe from George and it was split in two!