Author Description

In London, trees can go unnoticed. They line the city's streets, punctuate its open spaces, fill its parks, but they are not often remarked upon, scarcely touched and rarer still climbed. But as a meadow is not a meadow without its wildness, a city is not a city without its green spaces; London would not be London without its trees. Elms, oaks, pines, poplars, hazels, mulberries, acacias, cherries, hawthorns, silver wattles, London's very own planetree, the capital is fit to bursting with all manner, all sizes and all variety of tree life. Many are as old as, if not older than, the city itself. They were here before the Tower, before St. Pauls, most definitely before the Shard. And until recently, very few have been climbed... Jack Cooke has spent the last year climbing the vast assortment of the city's trees for no other reason than sheer pleasure. He is not a tree surgeon, he is not a scientist, he is not even a gardner. He is a treeclimber, as we all were not so long ago. In this charming, witty and beautifully illustrated companion, Jack explores the city through its canopy; teetering on the edge of an oak's branches, crunching the bark of a dying elm, spying views from the treetops which few have ever seen. He takes us through the parks, over the canals, behind its walled gardens and even into the City in his journey sometimes only ten foot above street level. It is a unique guidebook, as odd, alluring and wonderful as London itself, and is essential reading for the city's inhabitants and visitors alike.