Clipsham yew tree lane…

A couple weeks ago we went out for an evening drive (it’s light until about 9:30) and on our way home we drove through Clipsham village for the first time. When I saw a sign that said ‘Yew Tree Lane’ I assumed it was another example of the English giving a small road an evocative name to taunt people like me. As we came trundling around the corner I saw a tiny Georgian house almost hidden by this strange clump of clipped yew trees. The sculptor in me loves shaped trees and hedges; the crazy woman in me loves yew trees…they’re poisonous and there are yew trees alive today that are well over a thousand years old. Magic! I craned my neck farther as the Goblin obliviously drove past a grass lane lined with clipped yew trees. I turned and said, ‘Did you see those yew trees? They’re clipped! I must go back!’ Of course I’d hoped he’d immediately turn back, but he merely said something like, “We’ll come back…it’s going to rain.’ and drove on. English goblins hate rain.

The following evening I reminded him I wanted to go back and see the clipped yew trees and he’d already forgotten them. How can anyone forget a lane of clipped yew trees? I made sure he wasn’t able to forget again so he drove me back this past Saturday afternoon. The forcast was for more rain, but soon after we arrived the sun came out.

The lane was originally the drive or private approach to Clipsham Manor house.

The yew trees are well over two hundred years old so the local Regency gentry would have found them an impressive drive, but it wasn’t until around 1870 when the hired man living in the gatehouse (the small Georgian house near the road) shaped the yews around the gatehouse (probably to let more light as they’re oppressively close). The Master was so impressed with the man’s work he had him clip all the yews along the drive. I suspect the gatekeeper regretted clipping those first few trees!

The lane and surrounding land is now run by the National forrestry people. They come and clip it once a year and over the years have added all sorts of images and initials into individal trees. Personally, I think it would have looked more impressive with all the yews left classically clipped, but that’s just me. As we were strolling down the old carriage ruts in the lane, the goblin was telling me how he’d read online that the lane is supposedly teeming with wildlife, but he hadn’t seen any. As he was telling me this I turned my head and past a gate in the distance I saw deer. I said, ‘Honey look…wild life!’

We watched the deer and then continued up the lane toward the fence that says no tresspassing. I took the picture of the house from there and then we headed back down the lane towards the carpark taking pictures.

I can’t wait to go back and walk in the woods to see the surrounding countryside from a more ancient perspective. It has beautiful rolling hills covered in a patchwork of fields. As we drove away in the rain, the greens against the dark sky ahead looked like something out of a fairytale. It was one of those moments that make me say, “England, my England!”