Within the Arboretum, you will find a collection of specimens that have been grown and harvested over the course of many centuries expressly for making furniture. These furniture timber trees have a green label bearing the Furniture Makers crest. They also have a descriptive illustrated panel featuring the original watercolours and narrative created by Lin Hawthorne for the book ' Furniture Makers' Trees in the Arboretum - Kew at Castle Howard' which she produced for the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers to commemorate the opening of the exhibition.

Many of the trees are familiar - you may even grow them in your own garden. But the British furniture maker is renowned for resourcefulness and you will discover that many trees and shrubs that you think of as purely ornamental have also been used for their beautiful wood in the making and decoration of the finest furniture over hundreds of years.
In the Arboretum, you will find examples of furniture makers’ trees at two locations. Major timber trees are grown in the Furniture Makers' Walk whereas the more unusual species are to be found in the Gatehouse area – these are mostly small trees or shrubs that seldom produce large enough timbers to create whole pieces of furniture, but nevertheless contribute beauty and colour as veneers, as marquetry, or as turned decoration.
The information centre, exhibition and plantings are sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers and are in the care of the Castle Howard Arboretum Trust (CHAT). The Worshipful Company is the 83^rd Livery Company of the City of London and is a charitable body with a membership drawn from British furniture designers, manufacturers and retailers. Among their primary aims is the fostering of both the Craft and the Industry of furniture making, and furniture marketing and retailing in the United Kingdom. By linking the living trees with the finished piece of furniture, the plantings and exhibition here were created as part of this remit.
CHAT is a charitable trust set up in 1997 as a joint venture between the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Castle Howard Estates Ltd., with the aims of conserving the collections for scientific research, public enjoyment and education.

Furniture Makers trees at The Arboretum - Kew at Castle Howard

 

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