A little caveat might be needed before this post. I have a near-obsession with a website called Atlas Obscura (AO). AO is a compendium of the unusual, of things and places and happenings I find quite interesting but that you won't find in one of the usual travel guides. Hence the photos a year ago of me next to witches' tombs, or Stewart listening to a musical instrument imbedded in a highway overpass, or two days ago in the northern reaches of Scotland looking at castle ruins that Bram Stoker--it is said--used to help him form the vision of Dracula's.
So yesterday at the guidance of AO we took a small diversion enroute to Edinburgh, to see the world's largest hedgerow, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. It is size and length were impressive (580 yards long and 100 feet high), especially for an organization of bushes that one expects not to see on such a grand scale. But the best part is that the Meikleour Beech Hedge was planted in the Fall of 1745. Standing next to a living 270 year old anything is rather impressive to me, but a hedgerow...well, what can I say.
The Mighty Meikleour Hedgerow
In case you were curious, it takes four people six weeks to trim it, once a decade.