This Saturday, the early morning joggers of the great Knole Park were once again exposed to the unseemly sight of an obsessive-with-camera hopelessly snapping away like a mad'un in an increasingly frustrated manner around the aforementioned stumps known, inventively, as One and Two. Which one was it ? One or Two ? I canna take it captain ! I gotta know ! On the way back down Sevenoaks high street, a few more snaps of the probable Beatles restaurant and the probably Mr. Kite Antique Shop and the possible Beatles hotel (did not mention that before but maybe true) but its the tree we need to know ! We need to know ! We just HAVE to know !!!
Haha.. a quaint Musical Instrument shop nestled between these imagined places and a Hard Day's Night poster in the window. Maybe the owner just might....I started gentle, did not want him to think he had a freak in his shop. Lovely morning - agreed. Browsed the harmonicas and banjos...Like the poster, love the Beatles I do... Did you know they visited this area back in the day, yep - he did. They filmed in the park..he knew that. Yes, SFF and Penny Lane filmed around the tree....(here it comes, here it comes)..Which tree was it ? He's looking surprised and the friendly smile is slipping away..What-da-yer-mean, which tree ? The trees in the park ! Bit strained suddenly. No - I mean do you know which tree, err exactly...he seemed to be backing away from me and answered his phone which I did not hear ring.
So, yet more time on the information super-highway last night and more hours wasted in trying to unearth the killer archive photo proving once and for all, the Number of the Stump. Nothing, zilch, bit-fat-zero...hold on ! Sweet Nelly Futardo ! What in the name of all things Pepperland is this ! A renunion back in 2008 of West Malling residents to reminise on The Day the Beatles came to West Malling ?! A bit of a do at the Holiday Inn not a stone's throw from Cassa Brilig ? What ? I said, What ? How can this be ? Why wasn't I told...it just ain't fair. The truth is out there and know to some old codgers who will not let me into their club and the twits are bound to forget.
Do I care about all this..the fact I cannot seem to get to the truth about the tree or, indeed, the Walrus scene in MMT at West Malling ? I re-assure myself that I exist and all that is not-I is mere phenomenon dissolving into phenomenal connections. JL put it better
http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/news/Undefined-Headline/article-289462-detail/article.html
Fear not, soldier. There are loonies across the pond like myself (Eastern U.S.) who only wish we could take day trips to Kent and figure out which stump is the magical tree of Strawberry Fields Forever.
ReplyDeleteI've got only the resources of the Internet at my disposal, so I've done some hunting on Google Earth and Bing maps. My best guess for the geographic coordinate of the tree is a brownish spot located at 51°15'47.48"N, 0°12'50.73"E.
My reasoning is several-fold. The common nominee, the large tree trunk to the west of the birdhouse, protected by fence, cannot be our tree. It doesn't resemble the one in the video at all. And the background of the shot would have included the outer stone wall of the Knole House grounds, which we don't see in SFF.
I can't tell if the brown spot I've picked out is a tree stump, but it seems to be the right size. And if we establish the camera angle as shooting toward the Northeast, then the main road is indeed behind the tree and the large tree background is even further behind. That matches both the SFF video and the photo you've posted here.
In other words, I am speculating that the brown spot I located via satellite is the same as your stump, and this is the location of the mythical tree. The search might be over.
Thanks for your comment Dan. I am not alone in madness which is strangely re-assuring I will be logging on to Bing and Google later tonight and hope to get back to Knole park over the Easter break - with your info and gps in hand. Thanks again and will be updating this entry as soon.
ReplyDeleteBrilig
I think youve got the right tree!!
ReplyDelete