For thousands of years, oak trees have been around and they have become so legendary that they are now part of our oral history. People also visit the great oak tree in Sherwood Forest that is thought to have sheltered Robin Hood and his band of men, and the tale is repeated over and over again.
Oak is wood that has been used in the construction of many different items for many years, from furniture to ships. Oak, as it is an extremely strong wood, was the chosen wood to be used for ship construction. It is also why Structural Oak Beams are so popular.
A fully grown oak tree can attain an unbelievable height of around 45 metres or 148 feet, and its canopies even extend outwards. Oak trees are believed to have first appeared on the earth over 65 million years ago, making them one of the most ancient trees we still see in our countryside today. One of the reasons they have been around for so long is that once they have reached 700 years of age, an individual tree will live up to 1,000 years old and they are not considered old.
The seeds of an oak tree are known as acorns, and over 10 million of them can be created by a single tree in its lifetime, which is an amazing number of acorns. Not only do they help to grow new oak trees, but they are also an important source of food for forest animals.