In the Middle of the Football Stadium & Other Fantastic Stories

The villagers of Orissaare do not find the location of the tree strange as their oak tree has become the heart of the local community.

Before 1951 there was a small sporting area beside the oak tree, and when it was expanded the tree ended up in the middle of the stadium.

..two of Stalin's tractors tried to pull it out of the ground, but the cables kept breaking. It still has marks from the cables.

Nowadays, students know how to use the tree to complete passes, and it offers shade to the players.

They are 'working trees', cultural trees. Medieval documents describe that leaf fodder (tree hay), wood fuel and limbs for building with, were obtained from these trasmochos (pollards). They are a large part of the cultural landscape and of the work of the farmers' lives.

Possibly the biggest concentration in Europe is in Aguilar del Alfambra where 4700 pollard polars can be found.

In 2009, the first Pollard Poplar Festival was celebrated and this big and healthy poplar, was selected to symbolise 800 year of pollarding in the region. The tree shares a common history with local people and its origin tied to the landscape.

The natural monument pays homage to those who fought for centuries against the Germanisation of Silesia. 

The tree dates back to the Silesian Piast dynasty symbolized by the patriotic name Slav.

Reminiscent of a seven-headed dragon, it has attracted many generations of children to climb its branches.

The tree is a cursed dragon that fought St. George, patron of the local church. The pine used to be called “Juliette” because Countess Julie Herberstein, the last owner of the Opatovice estates often sat on a white bench underneath it.

The pine has been selected as a mother tree for seed collection and reproduction.

According to folklore its hollow trunk was used as a hideout by Robin Hood and his merry men. Today, the world famous tree weighs an estimated 23 tonnes, its trunk circumference is 33 feet (10m) and its branches spread to over 92 feet (28m).

Because of its national importance, conservation measures to the tree have been carried out continually since 1908. Today, slender steel poles prop the sprawling limbs of this forest giant, which is visited annually by  thousands of people at Nottinghamshire County Council’s Sherwood Forest Country Park.

The plane is part of local life - an everyday witness of local events, an observer of activities organised by the Community Centre. Every year it greets first graders who enter the local school and bids goodbye to the graduating students. 

On Sundays it casts its friendly shadow over visitors to the weekly market. It attends the traditional "Ilinden" Archar Fair as a most renowned guest and also takes part in all festive events.