Urban Forest: Haggerston-Hackney

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/02/2018
10:30 am - 12:30 pm

Location
Haggerston (Overground) station


Sunday 4 February 2018 10.30am-12 Noon Start: Haggerston (Overground) station – circular

Continuing our new series of Stalking Trees walkshops, we are delighted to welcome Paul Wood, author of London Street Trees, to entice you to Explore the Urban Forest in Haggerston, Hackney.

Time Out London 16/1/18

Hackney has become known as an ‘Urban Arboretum’ and with good reason: this east end borough is home to perhaps the most diverse selection of street trees in London. Our route from Haggerston Overground station will take us past evergreen Strawberry Trees, deciduous Dawn Redwoods, early flowering Persian Ironwoods and even an Almond, which if we are lucky, may be showing the first signs of flowering too. Street tree walks with Paul Wood provide a new perspective on London, that’s right on the doorstep. After you’ve been on one of these walks, you will never look at the city in the same way again!

Part species spotting, part urban tree management, explorations with Paul Wood are entertaining, informative and bring a fresh perspective to the urban scene.
Our route will include Stonebridge Gardens and the entrance to Albion Square marked by a Purple Crab Apple. We leave the square by Holly Street, mis-named as there’s no holly tree on it, but instead the handsome Tree of Heaven.

Our route also includes  de Beauvoir Square, there is a Wild Service Tree and a Juneberry (or as Paul prefers the ‘shad tree’), and the surrounding streets offer up a Tulip, Plum and Cherry trees to name just a few. No wonder the houses around this square are residences for a celebrity or two.

Our route is a circular one, but whenever you are with tree sleuth Paul, you can’t be certain he won’t  lead off-route to show you another exotic tree.  No wonder Hackney can pride itself as London’s most diverse urban forest.

Paul Wood is the author of ‘London’s Street Trees’, a beautiful and practical field guide to the city’s urban forest. Chosen by the Guardian as one of the Nature books of 2017. Paul is interested in looking at London through its street trees; how they relate to the built environment, their cultural and social history, and of course the remarkable variety of native and exotic species to be encountered as we Explore the Urban Forest.

We will be handing out a field notebook and pencils, for you to keep your own learning journal and Paul will be signing copies of his book that will be available to purchase.

We will follow a circular route beginning and ending at Haggerston Overground station.

Book on-line via Eventbrite £18 (plus booking fee) in advance, £20 on the day (accompanied children come free)

Check out our money-saving Loyalty Card – more details on this page.

Sign up to or learn more about walkshops we are planning with Paul.

Almond tree in de Beauvoir Road (photo: Tim Ingram-Smith)


Paul Wood talking about the fruit of the Strawberry tree in Arbutos Road (photo: Tim Ingram-Smith)

What participants told us on this Exploring the Urban Forest walkshop in October 2017: 

What I like best about the event | What I found surprising | How much I enjoyed it and why?

  • Learning and fun as one | All our friends wanted to come | 5 stars |
  • The tree talks | The trees that only Hackney plants | 4 stars | Very interesting and good guide
  • Looking at local area & stories | The depth of knowledge of the guide| 5 stars | Interesting & enjoyable, lovely detail in unexpected places
  • The diversity of trees I had never seen before | The Strawberry tree | 5 stars | Paul was very informative

Walking in Step with:

Paul Wood https://thestreettree.com/