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Tree of the week: the hornbeam that inspired one man’s lifelong obsession – and his tattoo

Tim Mosley loves his favourite hornbeam, in Brockwell park, London, so much that he had it tattooed on his arm during a trip to India three years ago. It’s not the tree of life – as many people assume – but it does have a special significance for him. “It’s something that reminds you to deal with the earth beneath your feet,” he says. “It makes me feel more stable and calm.”

The film publicist, 41, who also works part-time as a yoga teacher, has been photographing the hornbeam for nine years. It has been the backdrop to many happy afternoons in the park, catching up with friends and family while listening to music. Mosley even brought his fiancee, Emma, to the tree for their first date. “We had to break out of the park because we stayed there too late and the gates had closed.”

The 35-minute stroll from his home in Oval to the park has become like a “pilgrimage”. The hornbeam looks like “the perfect tree” to him. “It looks like a tree looks in children’s books,” he says. “It’s pretty symmetrical. It’s got a pleasing point, like the spades on playing cards.” He’s taken more than 100 pictures of it during the changing seasons. Photographing the tree has “gone from a fun hobby to an ongoing project, to potentially a lifelong obsession”. He shares the results on Instagram, with the hashtag #timstree2.

The tree has been a place to go to in good times and bad – a marker of solidity in a world that is ever more uncertain

A few months after he got the tattoo, he was shocked when the instructor on his yoga training course in Kerala pointed at his arm one day and told him: “I know that tree – it’s in Brixton.” “He went on to say that he used to teach yoga at Brockwell lido 15 years previously and would meditate under the tree after class,” says Mosley. “It was nuts.”

Each time Mosley visits the hornbeam, he likes to take a moment to sit down and reflect. “It’s a landmark in the city, which feels like it’s purely mine,” he says. “The tree has been a place to go to in good times and bad. It’s been a marker of solidity in a world that seems to be ever more uncertain and frightening. Most importantly, the tree continues to be the place to hang out on a summer’s day with friends.”

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