Welcome to the Hazel and Elder Trees

Hazel leaf close up

Family Activity

  •  Can you count the number of trunks the hazel has? Why do you think there might be more than one trunk?
  • The base of the tree has a special name which is ‘stool’. This tree was cut or ‘coppiced’ in past years & shoots grew up from the stool to make more new trunks.
  • Look back towards the hill to where you have just come from.
  • Can you see all the steep ridges & slopes as you look up the hill?
  • You are looking at Clifton Camp – an iron age Celtic hill fort from 2000 years ago!
  • The steep ridges were created to stop other Celt tribes from attacking. 
  • Can you imagine what attacking Celts might have looked like 2000 years ago?
Hazel catkin close up
  • The hazel tree is a very very bendy wood – can you find a branch to gently bend down towards you?
  • How far can it bend?
  • The wood from this tree was used for many things by the Celts – to weave fences or the walls of a Celtic home.
  • Each of the trunks was cut at the stool after about 8-10 years to be used, a new shoot grew – & the Celts always had new wood to use!
  • What food did the Celts get in the late summer from the hazel tree that they could keep all through the winter?
  • Imagine you are a Celt – what else can you find to eat for dinner? What does the elder tree give you? What about the blackberry bush?

Photographs © Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project.