LAST week’s Craven curiosity was of a metal plaque mounted on a metal post in a strip of woodland close to a road in West Marton, marking the spot where trees were re-planted in 1908, when the estate was owned by the Roundell family. Now owned by the Nelson family, the estate continues to carry out tree re- planting.

Interestingly, a colleague mentioned seeing a similar plaque in Bolton Abbey, and Phyllis Capstick of Hellifield emailed to say she believed the sign was in Skipton Woods, the ancient woodland next to Skipton Castle and now managed by the Woodland Trust.

Nationally, the re-planting of trees has often followed world wars, when trees were needed for the war effort, or when the country suffered a major loss of a certain species of tree, such as Dutch Elm disease, which between the 1970s and 1990s destroyed around 25 million Dutch Elms in the UK. The country is now facing a new treat to its trees with Ash Dieback, which the Woodland Trust says will kill up to 95 per cent of Ash Trees in the country.

Craven District Council recently announced that it plans to plant more than 7,000 trees on three areas of land it owns in Skipton as part of its work to combat climate change.

Interestingly, despite being a rural area, Craven has a low level of tree coverage, at only five per cent of land area, compared to the UK average of 12 per cent.

How about this week’s wonderful looking object, spotted by a colleague while out walking across the border, in Lancashire, so not so much a Craven curiosity, but a Lancashire curiosity. If you know what it is, or if you have an interesting curiosity you would like to see on this page, email it, with a few details by 8am on Monday, to news@cravenherald.co.uk