treefold:north

Grid Reference: NY 395 195

treefold:north

treefold:north in Glencoyne Park overlooks Ullswater and encircles a young oak tree. This is one of three treefolds in Cumbria created by artists Rob and Harriet Fraser in 2017, as an invitation to pause with a single tree. You can go inside via the step-through, and perch on one of the throughstones, taking a different view of your surroundings.

The treefolds are a legacy of The Long View project, which focused on seven lone trees in Cumbria; the opening of treefold:north is aligned with Glencoyne Pine, high on the fell to the southwest.

The treefold has been built using stones scattered over nearby fields during Storm Desmond in 2015.

Waller Andrew Mason at work building treefold:north

Rob and Harriet with waller Andrew Mason

While celebrating trees and the beauty of the Lake District, the sculpture emphasises the value of slowing down and pausing in nature, and provides a reflection on the place of trees within a biodiverse landscape that is rich in human cultures of stockmanship and woodland management. On the outer stones of the treefold there are words; these are the final verse of a three-verse poem that is carved in parts into the three treefolds. The other two are treefold:centre in Grizedale Forest and treefold:east on Little Asby Common.

Harriet and Rob Fraser’s practice, somewhere-nowhere takes the environment, with its natural and cultural history, as a central point of enquiry, frequently involves walking as a fundamental element, and brings together visual art and text in landscape settings. The creation of a stone piece follows in a long tradition of dry stone walling, with the wall as a protector. The Cumbrian treefolds are part of a nationwide collection of art pieces that mark the UK Tree Charter, which launched in 2017 and will serve as a voice for trees in the decades to come.