THE thunder storm that took place across the Torridge Valley on Saturday April 30 claimed an arboreal victim at RHS Garden Rosemoor — a solitary cedar, forming part of the Bicentenary Garden was blasted apart by lightning, leaving only a splintered stump.

The tree – a cedrus libani native to SW Asia and Syria – was planted as part of the Bicentenary Arboretum opened in 2004. In the space of a violent 30-minute storm it was reduced to splinters of branches and trunk spread across the open lawn. Branches were blasted up to 45 metres away and the wood was eerily unscorched by the strike.

Head of site Sally Charleton said: 'We were extremely lucky that the lightning struck at 6.15pm and the garden was already closed with none of our gardening team being near the Arboretum.

'Residents at Lady's Anne's house heard what sounded like an explosion and – indeed – the radius of the debris demonstrates how violent the lightning strike was.'

Rosemoor did not sustain any further damage during the storm and the Arboretum is open as usual.