The Linden of Joncquoy

Shellfire levelled the village of Aubers in the First World War. This lime, standing apart from the houses, came through it. That is only the most recent thing it has outlasted. A map of 1706 shows three more lindens on the same site, all of them long gone. The tree was reportedly split by lightning in 1721 and grew on regardless. The Chateau de Joncquoy and its Le Notre gardens, which stood here, both went in the Revolution, and this is the last living piece of that estate. It also took the storm of 1999, which flattened woodland across northern France, without going over. A deed of 1490 is cited for the planting, which would put it past 530 years. It is 12 metres tall today and 5.1 metres round: low and thick rather than grand, which is roughly what five centuries of weather leave behind. It was nominated for France's Tree of the Year in 2020, and the Weppes tourism office thought enough of it to put it on its own logo. You reach it on foot along the Chemin du Joncquoy, on an ordinary walking route out of the village, free and at any hour, with nothing between you and it.