Country diary: For the beloved Ash Dome, death is not the end | Anita Roy

The Ash Dome, a living sculpture created by artist David Nash in the 1970s near Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, is experiencing rapid decline due to ash dieback. Ten years prior, the site was described as an elegant circle of healthy trees, but a recent visit revealed a stark contrast. The sculpture now resembles an "elephant's graveyard" with pale, twisted limbs surrounding a heap of dead branches. While a few trunks show new shoots, the majority of the ash trees are ailing, exhibiting white, flaky bark. Nash, a renowned artist known for his work with natural materials, planted the Ash Dome with the intention of it being a "21st-century" artwork. The current state of the dome, despite the heartbreak it evokes, is presented not solely as an end but as a transformation, with the dying trees contributing to a new phase of the living sculpture's existence.