The medieval Remedy Oak, 1200 AD. I have waited years to be able to do this. I go back every autumn hoping to find acorns so I can grow them from this most magnificent piece of history, that just continues to stand there quietly and gently, like it has done for the last 800 years.
As you may have noticed this year has turned out to be a ‘mast year’. Fruit and nuts and seeds in abundance right across the countryside. I was thinking this may will be the year for me to get lucky, so I jumped on the bike and blasted on a 110 mile round trip (by the time I stopped and looked at all things of historical interest).
I was doubtful even though it is a mast year as this oak is hanging in there. Producing a large crop of seeds requires significant energy from the tree.
A mast year is a temporary drain on the tree’s resources, which explains why they do not occur annually. With this oak being ancient it may well not have the energy to produce a bumper crop – I was wrong.
To my delight this beautiful tree worked its magic and littered the floor with its crop 
I bag some acorns up, bagged up some soil from the middle of the tree. Thanked the tree and went on way to go and prep some plant pots. I can’t wait to see what happens.
If I can grow some saplings then I will plant them on my friend’s manor (dates to 1212 AD) and will record them so they can be entered into the manor’s records. Hopefully our descendants or locals will one day sit under its shade….
Here is its history. The Remedy Oak was one of four boundary marker trees of the Shaftsbury Estate, home of the Earls of Shaftesbury. A huge limb from this amazing relic collapsed.
It can sound dramatic and catastrophic, but trees have a fantastic ability to keep living as a normal.
Most of a tree trunk is dead and serves only to support the weight of the tree crown. The outside layers of the tree trunk are the only living portion. The cambium layer produces new wood and new bark – that’s all it needs to continue to grow.
It has been supported by wires for many years now and it has been struck by lightning, set on fire and hit by a lorry and heavens know what else since 1200 AD 
Legend has it that King Edward VI (1537-1553) was supposed to have sat under the tree and “touched for Kings Evil”.
Kings Evil was a custom that started in medieval times whereby the King (of England or France) heal them.
It is located on the Horton Road in Woodlands, next to the B3081 between Verwood and Wimborne, Dorset.