Lingfield Road - No 11 of an Occasional Series

There is a striking cherry tree located in the front garden of "Cotswold".

The house was almost certainly built in the early 1930s (based on old OS Maps) the occupier in 1939 was Arthur Burton and his wife Caroline. That they were married in 1903 in Stroud, Gloucestershire would  give credence to the house name reflecting their early married life (Caroline's family all come from those parts).

Arthur died in 1945 but Caroline lived on for another 22 years, although we do know that the last few years of her life where spent in a local nursing home.

I would like to think that it was Arthur that had the tree planted. I wonder if he was in anyway influenced by the growing interest in flowering cherry trees that occurred throughout the 1930s. This interest was all down to one man - Collingwood Ingram

There is a fascinating short radio series "Cherry Ingram: The Englishman who saved Japan's blossoms" currently available on BBC sounds.