The Grand Tilleul of Bioul

Cows graze right up to this lime, kept off the trunk itself only by a stock fence and a line of electric wire, which is why the Grand Tilleul of Bioul is a tree you view from the road rather than walk up to. That has not stopped Belgium naming it Tree of the Year in 2017, with 1,701 public votes and a 2,500 euro prize, and sending it on to represent the country at the European final the year after. At 21 metres tall and 7 metres round, it is reputed to be the largest small-leaved lime in the country. Maps have marked this spot since the 15th century, according to Anhee's own environment alderman, which puts a floor of roughly 400 years under the tree without pinning an exact one. Local memory holds that the field may once have been a sacred site before it was a pasture, a claim this project records as folklore rather than fact. The street here is named Rue du Grand Tilleul after the tree rather than the other way round, which is as good a sign as any of how long this particular lime has outranked its village. Look for it from the roadside; the fence around it is part of the point, not an obstacle to complain about.