Why is there a boardwalk under the Linford Lime?

The Parks Trust built it so visitors walk over the tree's roots rather than on them, to protect them for the future.

A crab apple in the north-west corner of Howe Park Wood, named by local naturalists, who call it the finest tree in the wood. It was alive and visited by the Milton Keynes Natural History Society in February 2025.

When are the trees at their best?

The lime flowers in early summer, when its crown fills with bees. The crab apple blossoms in spring, around late April and May.

Are they free to visit?

Yes. Great Linford Manor Park and Howe Park Wood are both open, free parks managed by The Parks Trust; the wood's paths can be very muddy.

United Kingdom

Ancient Trees in Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes is a new town with old trees inside it. In Great Linford Manor Park a pollarded common lime, dated by one source to the 18th century and by another to 300 to 500 years, has its own boardwalk so visitors stay off its roots. In Howe Park Wood, recorded in the 13th century, local naturalists have named a crab apple Edna and call it the oldest of its kind in the county. Both are free to walk to.

Highlights

Linford Lime

Common Lime · 250-500 years

Photo: Philip Jeffrey, via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0)

All 2 trees

Linford Lime

Common Lime · 250-500 years

A boardwalk now runs underneath the Linford Lime, built by The Parks Trust to keep visitors' feet off its roots. It is a common lime that was pollarded many years ago, cut back hard so that it regrew from a thickened head, which is why its base is so huge and its shape so wide. How long ago that was, and how old the tree is, depends on which source you read. The Parks Trust's notable trees factsheet says it was planted in the 18th century, and a photographer's caption from 2023 calls it part of the park's original 18th-century landscaping. A Heritage Open Days listing for an event celebrating the tree puts it at 300 to 500 years. Both can be found in print, nobody has published a ring count or a girth, and the honest answer is somewhere from about 250 years upward. The park is older than either figure. Great Linford's history runs back at least to Saxon times, though nothing connects the lime itself to that. The Parks Trust even named a sculpture, the Lime Leaf Chair, after the park's limes. Come in early summer, when common limes flower and the crown hums with bees. The park is free and open, and the tree stands in the part called the Wilderness, beside the walkway.

Photo: Philip Jeffrey, via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Edna, the Crab Apple of Howe Park Wood

Wild Apple Tree

The local naturalists call her Edna. The Milton Keynes Natural History Society names this crab apple the finest tree in Howe Park Wood and says it is thought to be the oldest specimen in the county, a claim it makes without saying who did the thinking. Other figures go further and are harder to pin down. A Parks Trust factsheet calls it believed to be the second oldest crab apple in the country and well over 100 years old, and a Parks Trust post calls it one of the oldest crab apples in the UK. Nobody has published a measured age or a girth, so we cannot rank it. The Parks Trust also notes two old crab apples in the wood and does not say which one is Edna. What is certain is that she was alive in February 2025, when the society's plant group visited what their report calls the ancient broad trunk of the named tree. Some of the group saw it from the outside path. Others walked the muddy route in. Howe Park Wood itself is old, recorded in the 13th century and possibly earlier. Edna grows in its north-west corner. Our pin marks the middle of the wood, not the tree. Come in spring, when crab apples flower.

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Frequently asked

Why is there a boardwalk under the Linford Lime?: The Parks Trust built it so visitors walk over the tree's roots rather than on them, to protect them for the future.
Who is Edna?: A crab apple in the north-west corner of Howe Park Wood, named by local naturalists, who call it the finest tree in the wood. It was alive and visited by the Milton Keynes Natural History Society in February 2025.
When are the trees at their best?: The lime flowers in early summer, when its crown fills with bees. The crab apple blossoms in spring, around late April and May.
Are they free to visit?: Yes. Great Linford Manor Park and Howe Park Wood are both open, free parks managed by The Parks Trust; the wood's paths can be very muddy.
More like this: One of these trees also appears in The Oldest Tree in Every City We Map.
Ancient trees in nearby cities: Oxford · Adlestrop · Cambridge · Stratford-upon-Avon · Stow-on-the-Wold · Runnymede · London · Stratfield Saye · Every city on the map

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