Tree walks, talks, events and competitions
Tree Walks and Talks
Heritage Open Days 2025
Once again, the Lewes Urban Arboretum team celebrated the trees in our Arboretum Town with displays at Lewes House over the weekend and a guided walk around Malling Deanery Arboretum on Sunday 14th September.
The walk was led by Peter Thurman, a valued member of our Trees Committee and an arboriculturalist with a vast specialist knowledge of trees, landscape, and the environment. His engaging commentary shared some fascinating information about thirty of the trees along his well-designed route.
Lewes Trees Festival 2025
For the first time, in June 2025, the Trees Committee held a “Lewes Tree Festival” to celebrate some of the trees that make Lewes and Arboretum Town.
On Sunday 15th and Sunday 22nd June, they led two well-attended guided walks around the trees in the gardens of Southover Grange.
On Tuesday 17th June they led another enjoyable tree walk around the Railway Land Nature Reserve.
The team also produced a leaflet to map a self-guided walk around other trees in the town. It starts and finishes in the lovely gardens at Lewes House, and copies of the leaflet are available from Lewes Climate Hub, (open Wednesdays to Saturdays, 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.). A copy of the leaflet may be downloaded here.
If you are interested in taking a longer walk around some of our arboretum trees, some of them are mapped here. Longer Tree Walk
STEM Festival 2024
The Trees Committee were overwhelmed with visitors to our stall at Lewes STEM Festival at the Town Hall on 17th November. The young people were asked to look at the displays showing how trees are good for wildlife, then draw a picture of an animal that is dependent on trees. They chose whether to wear their design as a medallion or make it into a decoration for their Christmas tree.
Heritage Open Days 2024
To celebrate trees during the Heritage Open Days organised by Friends of Lewes, members of the Trees Committee led a walk and talk around Malling Deanery Arboretum on Sunday 15th September. Thirty participants were able to take a close look at 28 of the trees and to learn more about them from Keith Sacre’s interesting commentary
Trees Design and Action Group – As part of a seminar on “Engaging with communities to support local tree planting and deliver change” on 18th July 2024, Audrey Jarvis was invited by the Trees Design Action Group to give a presentation to explain the Lewes Urban Arboretum Project.
From 5th to 15th June 2024, the Trees Committee hosted another “Tremendous Trees” season at Lewes Climate Hub as part of the “Taking Steps for Wildlife” biodiversity season. Exhibitions showed the importance of trees for wildlife and ecosystem services and gave ideas for small trees for Lewes gardens. Visitors were able to make a tree medallion to celebrate wildlife and make flower decorations out of wood. We finished the season with a talk on “The Benefits of Trees” by Keith Sacre.
STEM Festival November 2023
At the STEM Festival in the Town Hall on 11th November 2023, visitors were asked “Can you make a poster to let everyone know why trees are so special?”
Malling Deanery Arboretum Walk and Talk, September 2023
During Heritage Open Days, September 2023, the Trees Committee organised a popular walk and talk through Malling Deanery Arboretum to explore the range of unusual trees which have been planted there over the past decades. Keith Sacre, member of the Trees Committee, led the walk and shared a wealth of information.
Let’s Go Wild! May 2023
As part of the “Let’s Go Wild!” season at Lewes Climate Hub’s new premises in Lewes House, the Trees Committee took over the Hub for a series of “Tree Days” which included an informative talk from Peter Thurman on “Trees and Climate Change.”
Tree Day at The Railway Land December 2021
The Trees Committee was invited to the Railway Land for a special day to celebrate trees.
COP with the Climate Hub November 2021
The Trees Committee took part in the Biodiversity Day at Depot, organised as part of “COP with the Climate Hub!”
Planet Party September 2021
On a very wet day in September 2021, members of the Trees Committee took part in the “Planet Party” at the Railway Land, organised by Lewes Climate Hub to celebrate local actions for biodiversity and climate resilience.
Tree Summit at The Railway Land, March 2020
A fantastic day today at the Tree Summit held at the Linklater Pavilion on the Railway Land. Seven members of the Trees Committee of Friend of Lewes were there to take part and Audrey Jarvis gave a short talk about the aims of the Lewes Urban Arboretum project. It was wonderful to share ideas with so many like-minded people. Well done to Helen Meade and Stewart Boyle for their excellent organisation of the event – and to all the speakers who gave us the benefit of their ideas and experience!
Keep Lewes Special – a greener, cleaner town! February 2019
As part of the evening of FoL talks focused on the natural environment of Lewes, Dean Bell, of Plumpton College, an active member of Friends of Lewes Trees Committee, explained the results of our i-tree survey: iTree Survey – The Friends of Lewes (friends-of-lewes.org.uk)
Tingle’s Way – Several members of the Trees Committee of Friends of Lewes have contributed to information about trees to inform the “Tingle’s Way” eco-walk through Lewes. For each of the pilot walks we have provided information and leaflets which link the trees seen along the route with their ecosystem benefits, as shown in our i-Tree survey. Tingle’s Way is now officially recognised as a loop route: linking the South Downs Way from Blackcap, through Lewes via the Railway Land Nature Reserve, and joining Egret’s Way to reconnect with the South Downs Way. An interactive website guide and trail leaflets are in development, and waymarkers will be put in place along the route in December 2019.
Photo taken on a walk on Tingle’s Way, and the Tingle’s Way map. Click on image to enlarge
Walks – In May 2014, we held an evening town tree walk through Lewes, led by David Saunders, a committee member and forestry consultant. We arranged very successful walks around Malling Deanery arboretum in 2014 and 2015, both led by tree specialist Dr Hugh Morris. Again in September 2015, Peter Thurman – a member of our trees committee, led a walk and talk around Malling Deanery arboretum as part of Lewes Heritage Open Days.
Talks and articles – In October 2013 we gave a Friends of Lewes lecture, “Time for Trees” about our Urban Arboretum project and existing trees in Lewes. This was delivered by David Saunders, who conducted the 2012 survey. Peter Thurman, FArborA, MICFor, gave a talk to the Lewes Rotary Club on the trees of Lewes in 2014, and we have had a series of articles published in Sussex Express, such as “Why Lewes Must Treasure Trees”.
London Plane at Southover School, Lewes
Competitions
During our Tremendous Trees season at Lewes Climate Hub, 5th to 15h June, 2024, one of our areas of focus was the benefits of trees and hedges for wildlife. We organised a quiz to go with our exhibition of photographs and information and the lucky winner of a £25 garden token was Emma Davis.
- To encourage all Lewes children, and their families, to become more aware of the Lewes Urban Arboretum Project, all primary-aged pupils at Lewes schools were invited to enter the Friends of Lewes Tree Competition during June and July 2014. To take part in the competition, children were asked to create a picture, painting, poem, explanation or poster on the subject of: “I think trees are important to Lewes because……”. The prizes were a £10 Book Token for the winning pupil and a £50 Book Token and ten trees for the winning school. The results were announced on 5 September: Lily Taylor-Martin, age 9, of Lewes Old Grammar School Junior Department won first prize, and the runner-up was Liam Barbieri, age 6, of Southover School. Their entries can be seen on the Tree Poster Competition page. All of the children’s responses are celebrated on our Facebook page, and via Flickr.
- In Autumn 2013 we ran a successful photography competition, inviting people to take and share photographs of trees in Lewes. The winners were George Cade, (Juniors), and Paul McDonald, (Adults).
Friends of Lewes 