150-year-old oak crowned Britain’s perfect climbing tree

The 12 metre tall specimen in Owlet Wood, in Gainsborough, has a reach of more than eight metres and a selection of low-hanging branches.

Transcript

00:00 My 10-year-old self, if you told him I was going to climb trees for a living,

00:03 he would have just thought that was amazing.

00:05 My name's James Jessen, I work for the Woodland Trust.

00:15 My name's Scott Fraser and I run a training business.

00:18 I'm lucky, I get to climb trees on a weekly basis. It's pretty awesome.

00:22 We don't see so many grown-ups climbing trees for fun because maybe they lack confidence.

00:27 Generally between the ages of about 13 to 14 we stop seeing trees as a playground.

00:32 Climbing trees helps you connect with your inner child.

00:34 So what we're looking for when we're looking at a tree for climbing, easy accessibility.

00:39 I'd want a good network of branches at low level that I could make confident progress and develop some flow.

00:44 A spot that I could just, you know, start and take in the surroundings.

00:47 It's just a different perspective. That's really what you're looking for.

00:51 We're really excited to find this tree. It's got everything.

00:54 It's an oak tree, so you've got that strength in it. It's safe and accessible.

00:59 It's probably about 100 to 150 years old.

01:01 The tree is 12 metres high and has a spread of around 8 metres.

01:05 And this is the one that we feel is probably going to give people the most confidence really.

01:10 We're in Owlet Wood, which is near to Gainsborough in Lincolnshire.

01:13 We believe we've found Britain's best climbing tree and we're calling it Mr Silly Arms.

01:17 [Music plays]