UNIQUE Cumbrian trees will take centre stage in Lake District forest exhibition.

The Forestry Commission’s Grizedale Forest will host The Long View this summer, a project celebrating trees and landscape.

Since November 2015, husband and wife team, photographer Rob Fraser and writer Harriet Fraser, have been taking inspiration from seven unique trees across Cumbria.

The project will culminate on Wednesday June 21 with the publication of The Long View book and the opening of an exhibition in the gallery at the Grizedale Visitor Centre.

The Frasers have photographed and written about the seven lone trees and the very different landscapes that surround them, in all seasons and all weathers, day and night.

They have also created temporary art installations at the trees, exploring place, journeys, culture and environment.

Mr Fraser said: “The Grizedale Forest exhibition will include artefacts from all seven installations, as well as photographs, poems, prose and even real trees."

Mrs Fraser said: “We’ve walked miles in all weathers and at all times of the day and night to capture the characters of these remarkably ordinary trees.

“The seven are: a hawthorn, a rowan, an alder, a pine, a sycamore, a birch and an oak. Each one stands alone and has survived and thrived in an extraordinary location.

The trees and the journeys to them have inspired all sorts of ideas and thoughts and the exhibition is an opportunity to extend that thinking and encourage people to see these trees and the Cumbrian landscape in different ways.”

Hazel Stone, arts development manager at Grizedale Forest said: “We are delighted to be launching The Long View exhibition in our forest gallery at Grizedale Forest as part of the contemporary exhibitions programme.

“This exhibition beautifully connects with the forest setting and with our ambition as an organisation to provide new and enhance existing ways to connect people with the nation’s forests. This is a project about exploration, seeking out nature, celebrating the beauty of trees and making art in, and inspired by, the landscape.

"The collaborative nature of Rob and Harriet’s practice and the significance of Grizedale being the first forest for art in the UK seem like a perfect fit, extending our aim to inspire people about art, adventure and nature at Grizedale.”

The Frasers will be giving an artists’ talk at Grizedale Forest in the Yan on Saturday July 22. Tickets for this are available online at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-long-view-artists-talk-to-accompany-exhibition-tickets-31408774490?utm_term=eventurl_text