The Natural World

Francis Willughby and John Ray decided to undertake an experiment at Middleton Hall to determine whether oak trees would grow more successfully if they were grown directly from an acorn planted in the desired location instead of being moved as a sapling to the desired location. It is notoriously difficult to successfully replant an oak tree as a sapling and the basis for their theory was that they had observed that oak trees grew better where the acorns had fallen to the grou

It's National Tree Week! This year National Tree Week is the 22nd-30th November. It is organised by the National Tree Council and the aim is to get people involved in planting trees and appreciate the importance of trees to the environment. Its timing marks the start of the winter planting season, which is when the ground is most suitable for planting trees. Since the time that Middleton Hall Trust was established, we have regularly observed National Tree Weeks with tree plan