Each month we featured a special place occupied by Trees in Bakewell, with pictures, history and local information. Scroll down to see more monthly places.

NOVEMBER : Cracknowl Beeches

(Click for full size pictures)

Walking from the Monsal Trail towards Bakewell, you pass over hillsides of sheep and cattle quietly grazing, protected by dry limestone walls lined with elderflower and brambles. After a gateway the view widens, and in the distance just below the brow of the hill stand two landmark trees, windsheared, supporting one another, near 'the top of the world'.

These beeches are time-markers, beacons of 'now' between the future (Bakewell spire is visible over the brow of the hill) and the past (looking north you see Longstone Edge, where ancient sky burials took place).

Knobbles on the tree trunks are shining rubbing places for human hands and animals. At the base of the trees are deep clefts, used a few years ago to hide chocolate treats in a local Easter Egg Hunt. This is also spider territory, hundreds weaving their silky web veils, draping them over walls and hummocks.

The tree canopy lifts your eyes to the wide sky and air (two powered hangliders flew over the hillsides during our visit); two nearby dew ponds (and mist and rain) draw your attention to water; the reds and yellows of the autumn foliage remind us of fire; the roots of the trees burrow downwards and one of the trees is hollow, offering a window to the earth. Cracknowl is an elemental space.

Monthly Tree Place Archive:

• JANUARY : New Year with the White Birches
• FEBRUARY : Coombs Road Bridge and Hawthorn Hedges
• MARCH : The Hollies of North Church Street
• APRIL : Holme Bridge Grove
• MAY : Cherry Blossom in Wyedale Crescent
• JUNE : Vines over Diamond Court Path
• JULY : Riverside Gardens
• AUGUST : Beech Trees at 'Lovehearts'
• SEPTEMBER : Hawthorn Trees in Grant's Field Quarry
• OCTOBER : Willow Trees at Big Bend
• NOVEMBER : Cracknowl Beeches
• DECEMBER : A busy corner by The Chimney