Platane de Cézy

Cézy

At Cézy, a small village nestled between the Yonne and the Vrin, grows a tree not quite like the others: a plane tree so vast that it gives the illusion of a small grove all by itself. Its particularity is unique in France: six separate trunks have fused over the decades into a single mass of living wood, giving its base a spectacular girth of more than ten metres for a height approaching 45 metres. Long a mere local curiosity admired by passers-by, the tree found itself at the centre of a neighbourhood dispute when a neighbour demanded, invoking the Civil Code, the pruning of the branches overhanging his property. To protect it, its owner began in 2012 a long classification procedure, which led in February 2018 to a decision without precedent since 1948: the plane tree became the first tree in France protected as a classified site, with a perimeter of more than 4,000 m² preserved around it. Recognised as the largest plane tree in Burgundy and one of the country's rare multi-trunked specimens, it stands today as a victory of natural heritage over the ordinary logic of neighbourly relations, and continues to spread its generous shade over the village that watched it grow.

Getting there : In the village of Cézy, set slightly back from the banks of the Yonne; enquire at the town hall for any closer visit

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound