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The Lonely Tree in Llanberis, which has been nominated for Tree of Year. Photo Howard Litherland\/Woodland Trust\/PA Wire<\/p>\n The Lonely Tree in Llanberis, which has been nominated for Tree of Year. Photo Howard Litherland\/Woodland Trust\/PA Wire<\/p>\n
One of Wales\u2019 most photogenic trees is in the running for this year\u2019s Tree of the Year award.<\/p>\n
The Lonely Tree of Llanberis stands at the edge of Llyn Padarn in north Wales, set in a picturesque location near the village of Llanberis, with the majestic backdrop of Yr Wyddfa and the Llanberis Pass.<\/p>\n
A cedar tree climbed by The Beatles, an oak that may have inspired Virginia Woolf, and a lime representing peace in Northern Ireland are also among the other shortlisted contenders for Tree of the Year 2025.<\/p>\n
Voting opens today for the Woodland Trust\u2019s annual competition<\/a>, which aims to celebrate and raise awareness for rare, ancient or at-risk trees across the country.<\/p>\n The winner will be announced in September and will progress to represent the UK in the European Tree of the Year finals.<\/p>\n Ten nominees from across the UK have been chosen to meet this year\u2019s theme of \u201cRooted in Culture\u201d, which seeks to highlight how trees inspire creative minds and become ingrained in our cultural landscape.<\/p>\n As voting kicks off, Dame Judi Dench, who is patron of the Woodland Trust, said: \u201cOur oldest trees hold more stories than Shakespeare; some were putting down roots long before he began writing, more than 400 years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are as much part of our heritage as any literature.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope you will join me in voting.\u201d<\/p>\n Expert panel<\/strong><\/p>\n A panel of experts selected nine trees of differing ages and species for the shortlist, while the public chose a 10th as a wildcard entry.<\/p>\n This year, David Treanor, from Glasgow, put forward the \u201cArgyle Street Ash\u201d, pointing to its reference in James Cowan\u2019s 1935 book, From Glasgow\u2019s Treasure Chest, as \u201cquite the most graceful ash I have seen\u201d.<\/p>\n The shortlist also includes the Borrowdale Yews in Cumbria \u2013 a huddle of ancient trees described by William Wordsworth in his 1803 poem \u201cYew Trees\u201d.<\/p>\n The Beatles\u2019 cedar tree in Chiswick, which is around 300 years old, was nominated given that the band perched on one of its low-swooping boughs in a video for their song Rain in 1966.<\/p>\n The King of Limbs in Wiltshire made the list after Radiohead named their 2011 album after the ancient oak, which they spotted when recording at nearby Tottenham House.<\/p>\n Also nominated is the Tree of Peace and Unity in County Antrim, Northern Ireland \u2013 a lime formed of two trees that grew together into a single trunk and became a symbol of reconciliation when leaders met there in 1998 at the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/NC-banner.jpg\"\/)
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