Conservation, Trees at Delta Solms winery

AT Delta Solms the wine tasting is inside the museum but let me first talk about the trees and woods that have been exposed and put to use now that the invaders have been repelled. 

All the trees are tagged, including the National Champion oak tree in front of the house planted around the time the farm was first occupied in 1690.

Mark Solms, the owner was kind enough to show us round. First stop was the clump of giant Chinese bamboo, light and strong, planted to provide roof trusses. They form a secret alcove where, to the accompaniment of the chimes of the bamboo, Tracy, from the museum, told stories of long ago to school groups.

Where the undergrowth had been cleared, sapling yellowwoods have sprouted, camphor trees grow to monster size.
Originally farm concessions were given out on the understanding that if a tree was cut down, one would be planted to take its place, while not always adhered to, this resulted in the planting of a variety of oak trees. Not just gnarled monsters that a Cavalier king could hide in, but reminders of the tall straight forest giants felled two centuries ago to provide planks for the ‘Hearts of Oak’ of the British navy.
The pictures are of my wife and Mark in the bamboo grove and the other, believe it or not, is an oak.

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