I LIKE trees, I don’t think there can be many people who don’t. It’s hard to say what my favourite would be, oaks are magnificent, the horse chestnut in flower is a wonderful sight and the bark on a silver birch is special.

But there’s one tree that doesn’t occur here but which is the most distinctive shape and is quite unique – the baobab of Southern Africa and Australia.

Baobab trees have incredibly thick trunks, they are very barrel-like and have short stubby branches. The admittedly weird shape has created myths in Africa that the gods turned the tree upside down as a punishment for its arrogance.

The trees are able to store water and this helps create the massive trunks. The biggest trunk on record is the Sagole Baobab in the northern province in South Africa, the Limpopo. However, it took its top billing after the most famous tree collapsed in 2017, the Sunland Baobab. This tree was over 22 metres high and had a circumference of 47 metres. But what made it truly unique was the fact that it had something odd inside it – a bar.

After clearing the built-up compost, a door was fitted and a bar built from sleepers. It had draught beer, seats and a music system, and at one stage had 60 people in it.

The second part of the trunk was turned into a wine cellar due to its consistent temperature.

The bar was created in 1993 but was abandoned after the tree split in 2017, a sad end to what was a remarkable tree. It’s thought it was over 1,000 years old and some baobabs are over 2,000 years old.

I don’t think there’s a more distinctive view than groups of baobabs looking like silent sentinels watching over an African landscape.