St Mary's Church, Hertingfordbury

Opposite the South door is a group of four Horse Chestnut trees. Walk through them and you will find an ancient part of St Mary’s church: the sedilia where priests once sat. Look up, and you will see a ceiling of vaulting branches. At your feet, you may find horse chestnuts bursting out of their prickly jackets.

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There’s an ancient saying that the Bible is the book of God’s word, and nature the book of God’s works. This space is like a chapel formed by majestic trees.

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The horse chestnut is a showy tree. In spring it is adorned with candles of blossom in cream or pink. In autumn its startling spiky seed cases reveal beautifully glossy chestnuts much-coveted by schoolchildren in days gone by. Its wood, however, makes poor timber and its chestnuts are no good for eating. So perhaps its value is more as a symbol than as something of practical utility?

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Anne Frank wrote about a horse chestnut tree that she could see from the place she and her family hid from the Nazis. When that tree finally came to the end of its natural life, saplings grown from its last horse chestnuts were sent around the world as symbols of hope.