La Haye-de- Routot

August 2000 – Tim Hills: The larger of the two yew grows NE of the church and as the photographs show has been made into a waterproof chapel, called the Chapelle Notre Dame. There are many wires and rods to prevent branches from pulling the bole outwards. Girth was 34′ 1” at 1′, rising to 38′ 8” at 5′.
In 2013 sections of the tree were looking stressed and some of the foliage was dying. Tests were carried out and a chemical called Glyphosate was found in the soil. How it got there has not been established. Time will tell how well the tree recovers from this.
Janice Gregory – March 2015: We created ‘Les amis des ifs’ in September 2014, and have tried to spread the word that trees are our natural heritage and interest everyone – especially children – in their unique value. We are working with a local school, in which a class of 8 year old children is working on an historical mural depicting the life of our 1500 year old yew trees. On April 9th the class will visit the trees, since many of the children, even those living nearby, are not familiar with them. The children will be told ‘tales of the yews’ – everything from the druids’ magic wands, Robin Hood’s bow, the Welsh monks ‘sign posting’ of christianity with yews and the Native Indians’ reverence of the yew. On April 6th, Easter Monday, we have organised an Easter egg hunt opposite the trees. Guests are invited to bring spring flowers to decorate around the trees, children can draw pictures of the trees, and we will serve drinks, Easter biscuits and cakes. Guests were invited into the church to hear fables about St Nicolas and yews whilst we served mulled wine, hot chocolate and spicy Christmas biscuits. Guests wrote a wish for the future on a ribbon, then carried a candle (inside a protective jar) outside to encircle the trees with light. The wishes were hung on the protective ropes surrounding the trees, with hopes the the ‘Wish Tree’ would work it’s magic. We are trying to stay in keeping with the mystic history of the trees. Our funding comes from subscriptions to our association (3 euros per person, 5 euros for a couple), donations and, more recently, sales of a T shirt (a modest 5 euros) with the image of the yews on it. We have united several ‘experts’ to discuss the future health of our trees after its recent problems. Generally, it was decided to wait and see, which sounds like the best thing to do. Although almost a third of the tree branches appear to be dead, miracles may happen if we wait long enough. This misadventure has served to turn the public’s eye on the trees and start to understand how precious they are.