Howard Howes lost his wife Janet 17 years ago. In the months that followed, he planted thousands of oak saplings in a six-acre field next to his farmhouse, leaving a heart shaped meadow in the middle in her tribute. The point of the heart is facing Janet’s childhood home.
The secret heart meadow was revealed after 42-year-old Andy Collett, a hot air balloon enthusiast, flew over the woods and saw the heart, capturing it in all its glory.
Speaking of his tribute, 70-year-old Howes said: “I came up with the idea of creating a heart in the clearing of the field after Janet died. I thought it was a great idea – it was a flash of inspiration – and I planted several thousand oak trees. Once it was completed we put a seat in the field, overlooking the hill near where she used to live.”
“I sometimes go down there, just to sit and think about things. It is a lovely and lasting tribute to her which will be here for years,” he added.
Howes owns the 112-acre farm near Wickwar, Gloucestershire. He married Janet in 1962, and she died from heart failure at age 50 in 1995.
