Shortly before the close of voting the Brimmon oak, for which a bypass was relocated, is close behind a Polish oak and a Czech lime tree

It is old, squat, and bent a bypass. Now an ancient oak saved from being destroyed by a new road has become the first British tree with a cracking chance of winning the European Tree of the Year competition.

The Brimmon oak led the contest in the early stages, polling more than 10,000 votes. Three days before the end of the voting period, the Welsh tree was in third place, just behind the hot favourite, an oak tree from Poland, and a lime tree in the Czech Republic.

“It’s the only tree that has bent a bypass, it’s the only tree that has moved a motorway – it’s just a tremendous tree,” said Rob McBride, a campaigner for historic trees known as the Treehunter.

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He urged people to vote for the Brimmon oak, the Welsh entrant in the increasingly popular online competition which is usually won by eastern European trees. Last year, the Welsh entry polled just 237 votes.

“The Brimmon oak is a symbol of hope,” said McBride. “It shows how we can live with nature, with just tiny adjustments to our thinking and our planning.”

The 500-year-old oak grows on a Welsh farm and was earmarked for destruction when a bypass was planned for Newtown.

“It’s had three death threats,” said its owner, farmer Mervyn Jones. “First they were going to chop it down. Then they were going to pick it up and replant it. Then they wanted the new road to go 3.5 metres from the trunk, which would have cut through its roots and killed it.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brimmon Oak was earmarked for destruction when a bypass was planned for Newtown. Photograph: Courtesy of Mervyn Jones

Jones campaigned for years to save the tree, which his family has tended to for generations. His great-aunt had her wedding portraits taken under its boughs in 1901.

When McBride spotted the tree by chance one day, he registered it as an ancient tree with the Woodland Trust and later launched a petition with Jones which went to the Welsh Assembly. A year ago, the Welsh administration was finally persuaded to shift the bypass by 15 metres, saving the tree. The oak is currently surrounded by fences, protecting it from the road-building.

The Brimmon oak faces stiff competition from the Polish entrant, a hollow oak which was the hiding place for a Jewish family fleeing persecution during the second world war.

Heini Evans of the Woodland Trust said: “The support for the Brimmon oak in the European Tree of The Year contest has been the best of any UK tree in the history of the competition but the lead is slipping away. We still have a shot at winning if the entire UK now supports the ancient Brimmon oak and votes.”



“This historic tree has survived for hundreds of years, and throughout its long life has created habitat for other animals and organisms and produced acorns to become trees of the future. The Brimmon oak is a treasured part of the Jones family and wider community and is a true advocate for the need to protect all ancient trees.”

“This competition is a bonus,” added Jones. “One minute you’re fighting alone to save a tree and now it could become European Tree of the Year. It’s like a dream come true.”

What would Jones do if the Brimmon oak won? “I’d walk to Brussels,” he declared.