AN ACORN planted innocently by a schoolboy 35 years ago looks set to produce an entire woodland.

David Turner buried the acorn in the family garden in Glendale Drive, Mellor, when he was five.

Now hundreds of acorns from the thriving oak tree are to be used by his mum, Sheila Turner, to establish a special village copse celebrating the millennium.

Mellor parish councillor Sheila, who is also a tree warden and chairman of the village's gardening club, said her son discovered the acorn in her sister's garden in Chester.

"It was a huge thing. He brought it home, planted it in our garden and now it is a thriving oak tree. We didn't realise it would be so successful, " she said.

The oak tree has been shedding acorns by the dozen. It is also now home to a squirrel, a family of blue tits and countless other birds and insects.

Green-fingered Sheila, who is a wildlife enthusiast, last year potted 130 acorns from the tree.

But their roots have grown so long that they are now ready to be transpanted in an allotment in preparation for the woodland project.

"The acorns have been in pots in my garden and have developed such huge roots that they are ready to be transplanted.

"Now we are discussing three possible sites for the copse with Mellor landowner Lord Alvingham who is very keen on the idea of a millennium woodland for the village.

"The woodland will be accessible to the public and include other broad-leaved trees and bluebells.

"The oak tree has become a big part of my life and to think something planted so innocently would one day spawn a whole woodland is truly amazing!" she said.

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