UKC

I seem to remember reading on UKC a fair while back about a forestry plantation somewhere in Scotland that was deliberately laid out in the form of an image of some kind - a royal coat of arms of something like that. Am I completely deluded, or does/did the thing really exist?

In reply to Martin W:

The famous one is heading up the M6 in The Lakes where a farmer planted a love heart shaped set of trees for his new bride. Clearly seen on the east of the carriageway when passing through.

In reply to Steve Perry:
Love heart? The famous one I know is a little further north on the M74, and is a rather cruder shape...

In reply to Martin W:

There found one in Germany in the 80's in the form of a swastika. Got chopped down rapidly.

In reply to Martin W:
Maybe: on the M74 there's a forest which looks like a giant cock and balls. We always look out for it on our return journey to Scotland.

Its not just our imagination: here's a link http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-21483-adam_gnade_journey_to_the_cock_and...

Not as classy as a coat of arms (unless that is someone's coat of arms)

In reply to Martin W:

There is a runner carrying an Olympic torch on the hillside opposite Hafjell (Lillehammer), only difference is it's the other way around ie. treeless within the shape.

In reply to Martin W:

The plantation in the Burbage Valley was supposed to be a map of Great Britain, but not a very good one, and it's being dug up as we speak.

A few years back someone discovered some woodland in Germany that still had a swastika visible from the air (and possibly only in the autumn)

In reply to Chris the Tall:




See my previous post.

In reply to jonny taylor: Yeah love heart and its in The Lakes area. The love heart stands out clearer from higher ground I.e the Lakeland hills looking across the motorway to the Howgills side but if you know where it is you can make it out in passing.
They did a story on it in a Sunday magazine a few years ago, that's when I became aware of it.

In reply to jonny taylor:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cumbria/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_829...

In reply to Flinticus:

Yes, the Cock and Balls on the M74 is a classic

In reply to thedatastream:

There was(is?) two side by side that spelled IT on the M74.

In reply to Martin W:

I believe some Canadian Lumberjacks worked the Marr Lodge Estate forests around the Second World War. They either planted or cut down an area to make out the shape of a Maple Leaf as a lasting tribute.

In reply to Martin W:

try this one

search for 57 10'31.11N 2 52'48.07W on Google maps - then zoom in a lot and look at it upside down!

enjoy

In reply to Flinticus:




That's a funny bit of writing.

In reply to Flinticus:

Looks more like a mushroom.

In reply to aln:
It's 'a cock and bowwwls' okay?

In reply to Martin W:

Battle layout from Waterloo in forestry to south of Loch Venachar. May have been felled by now ...

In reply to aln:

Depends on your frame of reference I guess.

In reply to DaveHK:

Definitely a cock and balls. One of the highlights of the annual slog up to Scotland, as a certain Captain Paranoia of this parish will testify.

(Although admittedly, having been on the motorway since Brum, we were ready to laugh at anything ...)

In reply to Chris the Tall:

It wasn't that bad, just missing a bit in the SW. I heard it was intended to be better, but Devon and Cornwall had to be abandoned when bits of unexploded ordnance started turning up as they were planting there.

In reply to Martin W:

There's also a giant "ER" on a hill overlooking Chatsworth.

In reply to Martin W:

Near Tormore in Sligo.
http://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/photo/celtic-triquetra-or-trinity-knot-des...

In reply to Wingnut:

Also a giant ER on the Doward above the A40 as you're leaving Monmouth; coronation or something...

In reply to Steve nevers:


There is rumour that Rolf Gardiner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolf_Gardiner the father of the conductor John Elliot Gadiner cut his forests on the Wiltshire/Dorset borders in the shape of a swastika during WW2, but I suspect this was unfounded because he would have been arrested.

In reply to Trangia: Maybe he was a good Daily Mail reader and planted / cut it in the 1930s.

There is a scary hooded man with firey eyes that comes out around Halloween in Peeblesshire

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1562658

In reply to Martin W:

Unfortunately, the M74 one was what immediately sprung to mind with me too.

In reply to Martin W:
A few years ago I spent the summer doing backstage catering at various music festivals up and down the country, and at some point between T in the Park and Latitude - so, somewhere between Scotland and England, don't ask me where - when the tour bus pulled over to fill us with tea and bacon, on a distant hillside I saw a forest planted in the shape of a knob and ballsack. It was pretty funny at the time.

When I have a forest, I'm definitely planting it into a rude shape.

(edit - having now read the thread... yep, another M74 sighting!)

In reply to Martin W:

There's a plantation on the side of the Wye Valley that spells out ER planted in 1953 (or at any rate, used to be, haven't been past for years). You could see it off the A40 heading up from Monmouth towards the M50:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyastone_Leys

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. That one visible from the M74 seems to catch a lot of people's eye - though I've never noticed it myself! However, it's definitely not the one I recall being discussed previously (perhaps not actually on UKC, though).

My own researches have turned up a place in upper Moffat Dale called "Emblem Brae", which is a suggestive name. There does seem to be a rather strangely-shaped forestry plantation on the SE side of the valley which, if you screw your eyes up a bit, you could almost convince yourself might once have been a crest or coat of arms of some kind. It's at grid reference NT 17722 13935 - although unfortunately the OS aerial photograph has it in deep shadow. It's also visible on Google Maps: http://tinyurl.com/pwdwoc4

I've not yet managed to find out anything useful about the name or the history of Emblem Brae. Am I deluding myself that this could be what I remember reading about?