'People can hug the Sycamore Gap tree again'

Northumberland National Park

A piece of the world-famous Sycamore Gap tree which was illegally felled nearly two years ago is to go on permanent display.

The act sparked global condemnation and outrage in September 2023, with two men found guilty of chopping the tree down earlier this year.

Now, people will be able to see and touch part of its trunk at a Northumberland visitor centre near where the tree stood, as a permanent memorial to its mindless destruction is unveiled.

The BBC has been to see what the display looks like - and has had an insight into how it was created.

In a workshop in a tiny village in Cumbria, an idea has been taking shape.

The large shed up an ever-thinning track is where artist Charlie Whinney creates his abstract and beautiful sculptures.

They often feature steam-bent wood that makes my mind boggle when I visit, with its twists and turns.

His curved creations are everywhere I look, and his signature style will now surround the Sycamore Gap trunk.

The piece of tree, which is more than 6ft (2m) long, arrived at Charlie's workshop in mid-June, three weeks before its unveiling as part of a permanent exhibition at the Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre near Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland.

He is preparing the trunk for the metal work that will keep it upright, with the carving and drilling into the base being the only modification he is making to the sycamore itself.

It is nerve-wracking work, he tells me, "because so many people care about it, you don't want to mess it up".

The wood cuts smoothly and is "really nice to work with", the artists says, as he attaches a three-pronged metal baseplate that will finally hold the trunk vertical once again.

He is not an emotional person but is "blown away by how huggable it is", he says, before inviting me to try and wrap my arms around the trunk - which, of course, I do.

This is what everyone who visits the installation will able to do too.

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"The actual design came from what people said," Charlie says. "They wanted to be able to sit down, so we made some benches, and also pretty much 100% of the people we spoke to said they want to be able to access the tree and touch it."

A public consultation was held to work out what to do with the tree, which included workshops with children and any written contributions people wanted to make.

The much-loved tree had been a part of so many memorable moments for so many people, from marriage proposals to the scattering of ashes.

Three benches with canopies formed from curved wooden stems and leaves now surround the trunk, the seats inscribed with words taken from people's submissions.

The Northumberland National Park Authority (NNPA) received thousands of emails, letters and messages in visitor books from people talking about the tree, with every one read by staff members.

The authority commissioned Charlie and the Creative Communities art collective, a community interest company which creates sustainable art projects, to deliver an artistic response with the wood.

"It was very important at the beginning when we received the commission to kind of represent people that loved the tree, or knew the tree in life," says Nick Greenall, of the collective.

"It shows by its absence how much it meant to people."

Rosie Thomas, the park's business development director, helped pick out some of the messages that feature in the installation.

"The words that were chosen take you from sorrow, grief, the initial reaction, all the way through to feelings of hope and wishes for the future," she says.

"The really nice thing about the words is that everyone's experience of the tree was different and everybody's experience with this installation will be different too because the route that you take to read the words creates your own individual poem."

The trunk and benches were hidden behind curtains while they were being installed at The Sill, which is just two miles from where the tree had stood.

For Tony Gates, the chief executive of the NNPA, having the installation revealed to the public on Thursday morning will be a big moment.

The 18 months since the tree was felled have been difficult for everyone, he says.

"Back in September 2023, people felt they'd lost the tree forever and maybe in some ways felt they'd lost those memories of those life events," he says.

"To be sat here today to be part of that tree with this beautiful installation, it gives me a ray of hope for the future, this is a time to look forward and a time for us to repledge to do positive things for nature."

Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, both from Cumbria, are due to be sentenced on 15 July after being found guilty of chopping down the tree.

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