Tree of the Year 2024

A tree may be a village’s oldest inhabitant, a founding figure in a region’s identity or a natural monument integral to a nation’s story. It can also be a much-loved local landmark, a place to play and exercise, a gardener’s pride and joy or a space for communities to gather.

This year's national contest celebrates magnificent oaks across the UK. With centuries of history behind them, each one has a fascinating story to tell, as well as supporting important wildlife, cleaning our air, boosting wellbeing and much more.

Our expert panel has shortlisted 12 fantastic oaks from across the UK for Tree of the Year 2024. Now is your chance to vote for your favourite and help us crown a champion. The winner will represent the UK in the European Tree of the Year competition!

Voting is open until 11.59pm 21 October. We'll announce this year's winner on 29 October.

A majestic, hollow tree with a humungous girth that makes it the second largest sessile oak on record. It sits resplendent in the grounds of Cowdray Park and is part of an exclusive set of ancient oaks associated with Queen Elizabeth I, who is believed to have stood near the tree on a hunting excursion in 1591, poised with a bow and arrow to shoot a stag. Estimated to be up to 1,000 years old, this mighty oak could have already been 500 years old during her reign.

Vote for the Queen Elizabeth Oak.
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This freestanding oak looks out over the Shrewsbury countryside, as it has for centuries. With an impressive girth of some seven metres, its presence has wowed and inspired many over the years. Being very close to The Mount, the childhood home of Charles Darwin, it’s hard not to think this impressive tree and its surrounding countryside helped to inspire a young Charles about the natural world. Known locally as the Darwin Oak, this and eight other ancient trees are sadly threatened by plans for the Shrewsbury Bypass, which could result in five centuries of natural history being lost for ever.

Vote for the Darwin Oak.

The magnificent Gregynog Oak stands alongside several mammoth trees in Great Wood in the grounds of Gregynog Hall. This area is immensely valuable for wildlife and considered one of Wales’ most important ancient parklands and wood pasture habitats. Thought to be at least five centuries old, the impressive oak hosts countless species including important lichens. With many an esteemed visitor to the Hall over the years, the likes of Gustav Holst, George Bernard Shaw and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin may have admired this incredible tree.

Vote for the Gregynog Oak.

The second widest tree on our list, the incredible Bowthorpe Oak has a hollow trunk said to have once hosted tea parties! It’s claimed three dozen people once managed to stand inside it and ancient graffiti marks its inner walls to tell the tale of bygone visitors. Nowadays, it’s given the respect it deserves as a 1,000 year old ancient tree, fenced off to protect it from damage. It was named one of 50 Great British Trees by the Tree Council in celebration of the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002.

Vote for the Bowthorpe Oak.

The Capon Oak is one of the last surviving trees of the ancient Jedforest. Its distorted form may have saved it from felling since its wood would have been useless for shipbuilding. Thought to have been a trysting or gathering point in the 16th century, local men are said to have met beneath its branches before skirmishes or to resolve disputes. For 75 years it has been part of the annual Jethart Callant's Festival, with a sprig from the tree being used to decorate the leading man, or Callant. This tree was also one of 50 Great British Trees selected by The Tree Council to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002.

Vote for the Capon Oak.

Growing in the grounds of a school with over 500 years of history, countless generations of children have grown up alongside this wonderful tree. The school was originally founded in 1519 – when the tree was already around 500 years old - by Richard Fitzjames, Bishop of London, and his nephew, John, who became Sir John Fitzjames, Chief Justice of the King's Bench. It became Hazlegrove Prep School in 1947 and pupils of recent years have celebrated the tree they are lucky to see every day.

Vote for the King John Oak.

At a glance, these three hunks of standing wood may be mistaken for a trio of individual trees, but they are in fact the fragments of one enormous ancient oak. One of the oldest and fattest oaks in the UK, it will have provided centuries-worth of vital food and shelter for wildlife, and may have been a source of essential firewood, construction materials and winter animal fodder for generations too. Also selected in 2002 as one of Fifty Great British Trees to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

Vote for the Marton Oak.

Standing proud in the parkland surrounding the National Trust's Ickworth Estate, the Tea Party Oak predates the 18th century Italianate palace by some margin. A significant tree for local people and wildlife, this gnarled old oak is thought to be the oldest on the estate and one of Suffolk’s finest ancient trees. It takes its name from the tea parties held beneath its boughs for village children some 100 years ago. These gatherings were first organised by the fourth Marquess and Marchioness of Bristol and became a much-loved tradition. Now fenced for protection from human footfall, this great oak offers food and shelter for more than 300 species including bats, birds and small mammals.

Vote for the Tea Party Oak.

This colossal multi-stemmed tree is a hybrid of the UK's two native oaks, pedunculate and sessile. Its interesting name is probably a corruption of the Scots word ‘meikle’, meaning big, though some believe it was named after The Michael, the largest sailing ship afloat in the 16th century.

The centuries-old oak woodland of Dalkeith Country Park is an unusual habitat in Scotland and one of the country's three veteran oak hotspots. The many oaks here are thought to be descendants of The Michael.

Vote for The Michael.

Surrounded by other trees and adorned by ferns and mosses, this hidden gem could easily be missed on a walk through Castle Archdale Country Park. On closer inspection a vast, gnarled trunk splits into two towering stems. Its weathered bark and twisted, far reaching branches are a testament to its longevity.

This tree likely stood through the building, capture, burning and abandonment of nearby Castle Archdale in the 17th century, which is now in ruins. The area was a hive of activity during the Second World War too, when Castle Archdale was a flying boat base. It’s now a peaceful country park full of insects, wildflowers and walks.

Vote for the Castle Archdale Oak.

This enchanting oak has a sense of magic about it, creating a real spectacle as it rises in an airy clearing amid a dark spruce plantation. It’s one of the largest oaks in the area and supports a huge ecosystem, including many lichens like black-eyed Susan, rare outside the west of Scotland.

Local volunteer Gus Routledge said “It is one of the most impressive trees I've ever seen and for me it represents a whole host of things: beauty, struggle, humanity in its best and worst forms, science, culture, history, temperate rainforests... So much in one tree's branches!”

Vote for the Skipinnish Oak.

Chosen from our public nominations, this tree takes its name from its unusual shape. Supporter Claire Sheppard said:

“This is my favourite oak tree to photograph at Old Sloden inclosure, New Forest. It’s a pollard oak known as the ‘Elephant Oak’ due to its massive trunk! I hike for around 5km to get there and back, and this wood always gives me goosebumps. It’s not the easiest place to reach and hence it’s always very quiet; I get a real sense of peace and solitude here.”

Vote for the Elephant Oak.