Tag: Chestnut

#365daysofbiking Just nuts

October 19th – The sweet chestnuts have had a good year. In this country wild or urban trees rarely get the conditions to produce edible fruit, but on a journey to Tipton I found these near Brunswick Park, Wednesbury – still very thin but some of a size that contained a thin, edible nut.

I’ve not seen that before.

The boughs are laden and the windfallen fruit litters the footpath, the spiny husks looking like debris from some dinosaur shedding its skin. The nuts, however, are proving a delight for the squirrel population who are busily engaged in eating and planting the next generation of sweet chestnut saplings.

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#365daysofbiking Sweet thing:

September 25th – Again returning through Stonnall, I stopped to take a look are the venerable, reliably productive sweet chestnut that is always so beautiful on the corner of Main Street.

Always laden with nuts in their prickly, fur lined husks the tree is healthy and always fruits well; but sadly the climate in the UK isn’t favourable for producing sweet chestnuts, so the kernels are always small and thin.

They’re still beautiful, though.

May 14th – A gorgeous warm run out to Fradley, Barton, Rosliston and Syerscote was just the tonic I needed. I didn’t take many photos – sometimes, you just don’t – but the landscape was beautiful, particularly the river section of the Trent and Mersey Canal at Alrewas, where this most utilitarian of canals kisses the Trent. 

I noted also a beautiful red horse chestnut in full bloom in the sheep pasture by Wychnor Church. Those really are lovely flowers.

I really enjoyed the sun on my back today.

October 10th – Another abundant crop is the sweet chestnuts on the tree at the bottom of Main Street, Stonnall, which are now ripe and falling to the ground. This is always a productive tree, and the soft, downy insides of the husks contrast with the intensely spiky, hostile exterior, but it does look oh so cosy to be a sweet chestnut. 

As usual, the nuts are not big enough to eat, as the fruit doesn’t grow well in the British climate, but the tree is stunning and an interesting, handsome curiosity.

October 21st – I see lots of sweet chestnut trees about – particularly around Shugborough and Longdon, yet little decent fruit, which has always puzzled me. This year in no exception. Inside these very sharp, defensive husks, the chestnuts are thin and small. I don’t know if they’re just an ornamental strain, or whether the crops need more attention than they get in the wild. Still, the windfalls are always impressively spiky.