Peter Coles

Peter Coles is a member of the Festival’s Steering Group and one of the four founders of the Urban Tree Festival.

“I’m Peter. I’ve had a deep love of trees ever since I was a child, growing up on the edge of an ancient beechwood in the Chilterns. Having lived most of my adult life in cities, though, I’ve found the trees of the streets, parks, gardens and surviving pockets of woodland essential for my wellbeing. As a writer, researcher and photographer, I am particularly fascinated by old urban trees as witnesses to a past that may have been buried long ago under developments. This is why I helped to set up the Morus Londinium project to document, preserve and raise awareness of London’s mulberry trees and their fascinating heritage. Old mulberry trees always have a story to tell. 

My global cultural history of the mulberry tree, Mulberry, is published by Reaktion Books (2019).”