The Service Tree of Uzovská Panica

This tree was planted to mark where one person's land stopped and the next person's began. Service trees did that job across this part of Europe: long-lived, easy to recognise from a distance, and a signal to anyone reading the ground that the soil here was good enough for fruit. Two and a half centuries on, the boundary is a footnote and the tree is the landmark. It is about 250 years old, which puts its planting in the reign of Maria Theresa, and it measures 295 centimetres round and 14 metres tall. It still fruits, and generously: large pear-shaped fruit, pinkish-yellow, ripening in the middle of October. In 2019 it won Strom roka, Slovakia's national tree of the year vote, and went on to represent the country in the European Tree of the Year contest. By how much it won depends on who you ask. Ekopolis, which runs the contest, records 6,710 votes; the regional news site Rimava reported over 10,000. Neither figure has been reconciled with the other. One naming note worth carrying with you: Sorbus domestica is the service tree, a different species from the wild service tree it gets muddled with. It stands on open ground in the Lapoňa area of the village, free, no gate. Nearest hub is Rimavská Sobota, then a regional bus.