THE VILLAGES of Swell near Stow will be greener than ever after winning a competition to find the finest trees in the Cotswolds.

The villages won in two of the 19 categories of the competition organised by the Cotswold Tree Warden Group.

An impressive Wellingtonia tree won the largest girth category and a Pagoda tree was judged the rarest tree in the competition.

Swell was also runner-up in the "tree with a story" category for a 200-year-old yew tree, which was used as a shelter by tramps travelling between the workhouses in Guiting Power and Stow.

Apparently, to save paying for a night in the workhouse, the vagabonds would sleep under this tree and then walk to Stow in the morning for a free meal.

Swell Parish Council clerk Catherine Roffe said villager Mike Oughton remembered that as a child he had to walk past this tree on his way to woodwork lessons at Stow school.

"He recalled that it was with some trepidation that local schoolchildren walked past any sleeping tramp," said Mrs Roffe.

The ancient yew is near the site of a new fastigiate oak – donated by the residents of Nether Swell to mark success in the competition.

The new oak was planted near the Millennium footpath between Lower Swell and Stow with the help of Swell Primary School pupils Ellie Keegan, 7, and Alfie Dodridge,8, last Tuesday.