Here are the top 10 trees nominated for 'tree of the year'

Boy these are some nice trees here

(Creative Commons)

I've seen and climbed a lot of good trees in my time; big trees, small trees, leafy trees, trees with nice grippy bark, but I've lacked a means by which to chart their quality.

Fortunately the Woodland Trust has set up England's first Tree of the Year award, to be voted on by the public.

A shortlist of 10 really bloody great trees has been drawn up by experts, taking in a tree in which Robin Hood hid and the one that reputedly dropped an apple on Sir Isaac Newton.

There's also the Kett's Oak where farmers met to lead a rebellion against barons 500 years ago and the Ankerwycke in Runnymede where King John sealed the Magna Carta.

All the choices seems disappointingly based on their historic character, I'm just here for really nice looking trees.

"Some of them really just jump out at you, you know them very well – the Ankerwycke yew is an absolutely astounding tree," ancient tree specialist Jill Butler told The Guardian. "The Major oak, and Old Knobbley, these are very, very well known and well-loved. Old Knobbley had the greatest number of nominations so it’s obviously a very popular tree in Essex.

"There are some that one would’ve expected, but some that are obviously well-loved in their villages such as the Whiteleaved oak and the Ickwell oak."