Climbing Trees in England

The kids and I were out on a bike ride. I saw a nice-looking beech tree. I know from experience that beech trees are some of the best climbing trees, and I parked my bike on the grass beneath and climbed it. The kids wanted to get up, too. They were in the process when a lady pulled up in her car and looked up at us.

She raised her eyebrows and, in a voice dripping with disapproval, proclaimed, "...As long as you don't damage our tree..." and drove off. This tree was not in someone's yard, but it was in the middle of a big grassy roundabout at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. A biking/walking path goes in and out of the roundabout, and said path goes past our back yard farther off.

Being the conflict-avoider that I am, we got down and went home.

End of sad story.

Except to say that:

1) I used to eat lunch in a beech tree at school with my friends (we each had our own perch)

2) They have banned this practice at my old school now (no tree-climbing anytime)

3) Some day I hope we have a yard with a big, climbable beech tree that belongs to us, and I will invite everyone I know to come climb it with me.