Southminster - Badnocks Farm (Essex)

When searching for Giant Redwoods, often the first sign of success is seeing the tops of the trees peeping over their surroundings in the distance. When first finding this tree at Badnocks Farm, Foxhall Road, in Southminster, it seemed as though there were a grove of them! Upon closer inspection it of course revealed itself to be just one rather unusual example. Presumably this Giant Redwood met with a bit of a catastrophe many years back, perhaps a violent lightning strike, and lost its upper section. As is sometimes the way, it has since sprouted a number of new trunks vertcally from branches and the stump. Nearby is a Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana, or Chilean Pine), another of nature's unusual offerings.