Today I touched the trunk of the trunk of the Sycamore Gap tree, after the art installation was unveiled at The Sill in Northumberland, which is not far from where it stood before it was illegally felled almost two years ago.

Read more: Robin Hood’s Tree

I originally photographed the iconic tree, which famously featured in the film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, in 2006 and always wanted to return when I moved back to Carlisle in July 2023 but events overtook me when it was illegally cut down just two months later.

I did get there that day to get shots of the sad sight of it lying on Hadrian’s Wall which was a shocking sight to say the least. For the record Daniel Graham, 39 and Adam Carruthers, 32, who are both from Cumbria, were both found guilty of two counts of criminal damage and they are due to be sentenced on Tuesday (July 15). At the time of their conviction Mrs Justice Lambert said they should be prepared for “lengthy” custodial sentences.

Read more: Sycamore Gap one year on

I returned to the site last year, on the first anniversary of the incident, and it was good to see that there were green shoots of recovery sprouting from the stump, which have since been harvested and they will be planted to create new trees for the future.

Having said that it was good to see it front and centre of the installation where there are three key themes which emerged from the public consultation of nature, people and place, and these themes have been carefully incorporated into the final artwork.

According to The Sill website the resulting exhibit “honours the tree’s natural form while inviting people to engage with it in a deeply personal way.

“The trunk stands upright, just as it once did in the landscape. Surrounded by three oak benches, from which rise elegant streams of steam-bent wood, forming a canopy of a giant sycamore leaf that gently embraces the tree and those engaging with it.

“The design evokes the shelter the tree once offered, now recreated in a new form, where people can once again gather, sit, and reflect.”