The Big Belly Oak, named as such for its 11-metre girth, is easily the oldest tree still standing in Savernake Forest. The Big Belly Oak is so large you can't miss it. (Image: Newsquest)But just as health problems seem to come flooding in the closer we get to retirement, the Big Belly Oak has faced its own share of old-age issues. The Big Belly Oak has lived through almost every page of your school history book: including the medieval, Tudor, Elizabethan, Stuart, Jacobean, Georgian, Victorian and post-world war time periods. However, in 2014 the ancient tree lost out on the title of English Tree of the Year.

Source: The Times October 14, 2023 10:16 UTC