‘People said they donated because just knowing the Great Oak Table existed made them feel better about the world,’ said the project founder
Great oaks from little acorns grow – and when a 45-metre-tall oak falls in a storm, it’s turned into a table capable of seating 60.
It’s not the original proverb but it is the premise of a community-powered project that has seen an 18-metre-long (59ft) Great Oak Table – plus accompanying benches – spring up on a patch of private woodland near Chagford, on the edge of Dartmoor. It comes after locals raised £22,555 to transform a 500-year-old oak tree that fell in a storm 15 years ago into what they believe is the longest table ever to be crafted from a single oak tree.
The project is the brainchild of Elizabeth-Jane Baldry (pictured above holding her 17-day-old grandson), a local harpist who bought the spot – then poor quality former agricultural land – 18 years ago. She named it Pigwiggen Wood, and with the help of her two sons, has since turned it into a wildlife refuge.
The dream to crown the space with a grand oak table was a longstanding one, Baldry told Positive News: “The Tudor oak came from an old estate in mid-Devon, and there is a wonderful symmetry to think that – all being well – this is the midpoint in its life,” she said. “Five hundred years in the growing and 500 years preserved as a table in a Devon wood, a place where people can gather to share food, friendship and lively conversation.”
Five hundred years in the growing and 500 years preserved as a table, where people can gather to share food, friendship and lively conversation
Many of the comments from people who supported the crowdfunding campaign brought tears to Baldry’s eyes, she said. “Some people donated from across the oceans, and even though it’s unlikely that they will ever sit at the table, they said they’d donated because just knowing the Great Oak Table existed made them feel better about the world,” explained Baldry. “Over and over again the word ‘magical’ came up, an indication I think that we’re all so hungry for enchantment and a sense of belonging.
“I love to think of all the stories this mighty oak could tell: the animals that sheltered beneath its canopy, the people who gathered, the children who played, the lovers who kissed, the small creatures whose entire lives were lived out on its trunk, branches and leaves.”
And now there are all the stories still to come, Baldry added: “the midsummer feasts, the bowls of steaming soup cooked over the fire on winter days, the children drawing and making things, the parish picnics, and the essential quiet days when visitors can simply relax and soak up the magic.”
Find out more at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/great-oak-table
Main image: Putting togetherness on the table: some of those who have been involved in the Great Oak Table, with Elizabeth-Jane Baldry – and her 17-day-old grandson – on top. Credit: Claire Shauna-Saunders
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