A Fife family had a lucky escape when a 40ft walnut tree crashed to the ground at the height of Storm Hector on Thursday.
Andy Kennedy and Louise Yannetta and their seven-year-old twins Ollie and Mya were not at home when the 120-year-old tree in their back garden in Ceres succumbed to the high winds.
It smashed down, missing their house, garage, playhut and even their outdoor table and chairs.
It was one of four trees uprooted in their garden but miraculously, the family has been left with very little damage to clear up.
“Someone was looking after us that day,” said Andy.
“It happened at around 10am when Ceres was getting some mad gusts.
“We weren’t there but I would have loved to have heard it — it’s that whole thing of when a tree falls in a forest and no-one is there to hear it etc…”
Andy confessed he had always secretly wanted rid of the tree that provides walnuts every autumn.
“There’s no way we were ever going to take it down because there was a bit of history there,” he said.
“I’m going to miss the romance of it but I’m not going to miss the bird poo or the leaves in October.”
Ollie and Mya were upset to lose it but have enjoyed clambering on the branches while they are accessible.
It won’t be there for long however, as Andy and Louise have plans to remove it while preserving bits of it for eternity.
“We want to get something made out of the walnut,” he said.
“There’s a furniture maker who’s interested in it so it will go to a good home.
“We’ll keep a bit of it as well and put it above our fireplace.
“I think we’ll get the word Hector etched into it some place so we’ve got a bit of history left just there.”
