Walkers on Cannock Chase named this oak after Groot, the walking tree from Guardians of the Galaxy, and the old, gnarled trunk explains it. It is the sort of tree you half expect to turn round. It grows in Brocton Coppice, which holds the highest concentration of ancient and veteran trees in Staffordshire. The Coppice is old oak woodland with birch around it, on ground that is protected for its wildlife twice over, as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. How old this one is, nobody knows. The photographer who posted it under that name in 2021 guessed 500 years or more, and that is a caption, not a survey. We have not settled the species either. One map record calls it a pedunculate oak, while the Coppice's own oaks are described as sessile, so if you know your acorns, tell us which. The tree has been photographed in 2021, described on a walking app in 2023 and mapped in 2025, so it is very much standing. Its exact position is less certain. The records we have disagree by some tens of metres, so walk in from the Coppice Hill car park and look for the oak that looks back. Stay on the paths. Brocton Coppice is free and open.
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Getting there
Brocton Coppice, Cannock Chase, near Brocton, Stafford ST17
You can recognise it by its gnarled, knotted trunk, which walkers say looks like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy. It stands among the ancient oaks of Brocton Coppice, where the old oaks stand out against the birch.
Brocton is about five miles from Stafford. The Chase is mostly reached by car; public transport to the car park is not confirmed.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.