Thousand-Year Whispers
By Rona Laycock
ISBN 9781916333949
 
Thousand-Year Whispers is the result of two years spent wandering in the National Arboretum, Westonbirt, Gloucestershire, during the Covid years of 2020/21. Woven through the facts, myths and legends surrounding the trees are excerpts from a journal kept during those strange years.
 
The accounts are written in the form of haibun, an ancient Japanese form that lends itself very well to travelogues and journals. I played fast and loose with the form and had a lot of fun ‘forest bathing’ whilst learning about those ancient beings we sometimes walk through without giving their stories a second thought. Just imagine if those trees could tell us what they have witnessed over the years. 
 
Dip into this miscellany of trees at your leisure and let it encourage you to do your own research into the natural world. Who knows what you will discover?