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Loving husband Winston Howes was desperate to find a lasting way to show that wife Janet would always be in his heart.

Two years after Janet died suddenly aged 50 he spent a week planting thousands of oak trees in a six-acre field - leaving a perfect heart shape in the middle.

He ensured the point of the heart faced towards Janet’s childhood home.

During the 15 years the oak saplings have grown to maturity, Winston’s touching labour of love tribute remained a family secret - with the heart invisible from the road.

But now a hot air balloonist has taken this amazing picture of the woodland memorial after soaring above it last week.

Proud Winston, from Wickwar, Glos, said yesterday: “I came up with the idea of creating a heart in the clearing of the field after Janet died.

“I thought it was a great idea - it was a flash of inspiration - and I planted several thousand oak trees.

“Once it was completed we put a seat in the field, overlooking the hill near where she used to live.

“I sometimes go down there, just to sit and think about things. It is a lovely and lasting tribute to her which will be here for years.

“We planted large oak trees around the edge of the heart, then decided to put a hedge around it too.

“The heart points towards Wotton Hill, where Janet is from.

“We planted daffodils in the middle that come up in the spring - it looks great.

“I also flew over it myself about five years ago.”

(Image: SWNS)

Winston, who runs a 112-acre farm, married Janet in nearby Stroud in 1962.

The couple lived together for 33 years before Janet died from heart failure in 1995.

Winston created the secret heart near their farmhouse home - the only entrance is from a track leading to its tip.

Hot air balloonist Andy Collett, 42, a transport businessman from Wotton-Under-Edge, Glos, could not believe his eyes when he saw the symbol of love hidden among the trees.

He said: “I have my own balloon and am quite a regular flyer - but this was the most amazing sight I have ever seen from the sky.

“It was a perfect heart hidden away from view - you would not know it was there.

“You can just imagine the love story.”