Happy 200th birthday Felix!

This plaque in Burnham Beeches commemorates visits by Felix Mendelssohn, who reputedly often sat under a pollarded tree there, when staying with friends in a nearby village. How appropriate that we happened on it today, his 200th birthday.

This vista down the hill is called "Mendelssohn Slope" - the yellow azaleas add fragrancel.
This probably isn't the tree he sat under, but it's typical of the pollarded trees in this ancient woodland -

The trees have been pollarded since medieval times, so that villagers could get firewood. The grazing animals prevented the growth of young trees, so cutting the old ones back to the trunk put the new growth out of harm's way. Now, management is going back to "the old ways" and the young, replacement trees are being pollarded.

In another area, this lovely lake reflecting the pleasant weather -

On the way home, the car radio entertained us with a special edition of Private Passions - imagining what would happen if Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn came down from heaven (written by John Sessions). You can hear it on "listen again" for the next week here. Radio 3 is solid Mendelssohn today....