Linford Lime

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.