Horse chestnuts: new disease
Horse chestnuts are infected by a new disease, according to a new Forestry Commission study

Horse chestnuts in Britain have been infected by a new disease, according to a new Forestry Commission study. Forty-nine per cent of horse chestnuts carry symptoms of the bleeding canker disease.
Bleeding canker disease is a bacteria that attacks the horse chestnut bark, causing running sores and weakening branches.
Horse chestnut trees that do survive an initial assault may have to be felled for public safety.
Horse chestnuts were introduced from the Balkans in the 16th century, and there are now one million of them in Britain and many are found in woodlands like that in the picture.
English Heritage has commissioned a report into the feasibility of propagating resistant varieties, although 49 per cent of horse chestnuts in Britain have already been infected by the bleeding canker disease.
To comment on this article, use the comment box below, or email us at clonews@ipcmedia.com. Read more about the countryside
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by His Majesty The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
21 of the greatest craftspeople working in Britain today, as chosen by the nation's best designers and architects
We've persuaded some of the most celebrated names from our Country Life Top 100 to name the craftspeople they have in their own personal little black books.
-
The garden created by a forgotten genius of the 1920s, rescued from 'a sorry state of neglect to a level of quality it has not known for over 50 years'
George Dillistone’s original Arts-and-Crafts design at Knowle House, East Sussex, has been lovingly restored and updated with contemporary planting. George Plumptre tells more; photography by Clive Nichols.