Thanks everyone. The tree has now been lopped. It seems a shame but it was simply too large and just keeps growing (we were sold it as a tree with a 17' maximum height and it was well over 20'). It was a good opportunity to meet the new neighbours who seemed very keen to help.. We'll see how it does!
Funny, that.
About 20 years ago my dad decided to buy each of his offspring a tree to remember him by when he died (as if we'd ever forget
). He chose walnuts and was assured that they were dwarf stock.
17 years later, when the tree was now over 20' tall and its trunk was about 17" in diameter 12" above the ground, Dez got to work on it, with my help. He climbed the ladder and operated the hand-saw. I pulled the rope to make each branch fall in the correct direction. Once all that was left was the trunk, he dug a huge hole and sawed each of the main roots off well below ground level.
The trouble is that when you are told that the tree is dwarf stock, there's no taking it back to complain when it proves not to be.