Thousand trees in the shape of a heart as a sign of strong love
The thoughtful spouse spent a week planting hundreds of oak trees on a six-acre plot, leaving a beautiful heart shape in the centre.
Winston Howes was determined to find a method to show his wife Janet that she would always be in his heart.
He spent a week planting hundreds of oak trees in a six-acre field two years after Janet died suddenly at the age of 50, forming a beautiful heart shape in the centre.
He positioned the heart such that the point faced Janet’s old house.
Winston’s emotional tribute was kept a family secret for the 15 years it took for the oak seedlings to grow into full-grown trees because the heart couldn’t be seen from the road.
However, last week, someone in a hot air balloon soared above the forest homage and captured this incredible photograph of it.
«After Janet died, I had the idea to make a heart in the clearing of the field,» Winston, of Wickwar, Gloucestershire, said Tuesday.
«I thought it was a good idea, and it came to me in a flash,» she says, «so I planted a lot of oak trees.»
«When it was finished, we put a bench in the field overlooking the hill where she used to live.»
«I go down there occasionally just to sit and think about things.» It’s a lovely legacy for her that will last for many years.
«We planted large oak trees around the edge of the heart, and then we chose to surround it with a hedge.»
«Janet is from Wotton Hill, which is where the heart is.»
«We put flowers that bloom in the spring in the middle, and it looks great.»
«About five years ago, I flew over it myself.»
Winston owns and operates a 112-acre farm. He married Janet in the nearby town of Stroud in 1962.
Janet died of a heart attack in 1995, after 33 years of marriage to her husband.
«I have my own balloon and fly quite often,» he said, «but this was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen from the sky.»
«It was a lovely heart, hidden away where no one could see it.»
«The love story is easy to picture.»
Winston constructed the hidden heart near their homestead. The only way in is to follow a road to its end.
Andy Collett, 42, of Wotton-Under-Edge, Glos, was soaring in a hot air balloon when he noticed the love sign hidden in the trees.
