This beech tree – part of the row along the wood bank at Snelsmore Common that featured in Epic and Babes in the Wood – has an exceptional collection of burrs and galls on it (these are growths caused by stress such as physical damage or an infection). They are fascinating but not pretty.
The title comes from a fancied resemblance of the burrs and galls to the sort of engine that you see sticking up out of a Hot Rod car. I don’t know very much about that sort of vehicle beyond their appearance in the film Grease, so I asked my teenaged son, and between us we decided that reciprocating engine sounded about right.
£375
