Songs Beneath the Trees – The Beech

Songs Beneath the Trees is a collection of songs written specifically for Sibden Hill in Shanklin. Follow the trail to hear five beautiful songs under the trees that inspired local musician, Paul Armfield, to create them.

The word ‘book’ is derived from the word ‘beech’, as the first runic inscriptions were made on thin slivers of its wood, indeed the beech is the favoured tree for lovers to carve their initials and there are arborglyphs to be found in this wood, they can last many decades, growing bigger and fainter. Elsewhere on the beech trees there are often many naturally appearing ‘eyes’ looking down on this early form of graffiti. I have written the song as if the beech tree bears witness to whole life stories as they are lived out beneath its branches as written in a book. (Please don’t carve into trees, like cuts on your own flesh, they can be prone to infection and potentially harmful to the tree.)