England's Tree of the Year is beech sapling grown into letter 'N' to woo sweetheart

When it came to wooing his girlfriend Nellie in the 1920s, it's fair to say that Vic Stead branched out.

Spotting three beech saplings growing along his route from Garforth near Leeds to his sweetheart's home in the nearby village of Aberford, he grafted the trio together to form the letter 'N.'

The gesture worked, Vic and Nellie wed, and his sculpture dubbed 'The Love Tree' by locals has just been named England's Tree of the Year by The Woodland Trust.

Their grandson Chris Lund, who entered the tree into the competition told The Telegraph, "I was first shown the tree when I was three year's old and have visited it many times since.

"It is such an important part of our family history. I really regard it more as a living sculpture than a tree. We used to see it regularly when we visited out grandparents every week and so it was part of growing up."

The tree is still popular with lovers today and has been site of many proposals, as villagers believe it brings good luck.

Kaye Brennan, lead campaigner for the Woodland Trust said of the English winner: "There was a lot of love for this northern gem.

"Its popularity is a tale of romance and has really captured the public's interest to poll the most votes."

Elsewhere in Britain a giant sequoia at Castlewellan Forest Park in County Down with 19 trunks that is a favourite with young tree climbers topped the poll for Northern Ireland in the annual competition

The tree was grown from one of the original seeds of the giant redwood brought back from from California.

A spruce known as "Netty's Tree" on Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides, planted more than 100 years ago by poet, priest and land rights activist Father Allan McDonald, won the poll in Scotland.

The island's children are encouraged to play on the tree in a tradition started by Netty MacDonald, who lived on the nearby croft.

The Pwllpriddog Oak, which stands in the hedgerow near the village of Rhandirmwyn in Carmarthenshire and is a giant tree believed to have been planted to commemorate the Battle ofBosworth, won the Welsh vote.

The oak is hollow and reputed to have been at various times the hiding place of a king, a meeting place for local lovers and a shelter for the pig from the local farm.

The Woodland Trust is now asking for an overall winner to be entered into the European tree of the year awards and are hoping it will highlight how previous are the nation's trees.

"The UK's trees could do with a bit more love," added Miss Brennan.

"Since last year's contest more trees have come down needlessly in our towns and cities and opportunities to save important trees from infrastructure plans such as HS2 have been denied."