To some passers-by she was simply a tree – but to others, she was a dancer frozen in mid-pirouette, her arms elegantly outstretched above her head, and her skirts flowing behind her.

Now one Norwich park-goer is lamenting the loss of the tree he knew as 'the tree lady of Eaton Park'.

David Woodward was saddened to notice during a Christmas walk that the tree he thought resembled a figure of an Edwardian lady had been cut down.

The 77-year-old, from Bedingham, near Woodton, said: 'My friend and I have for many years, winter and summer, enjoyed walking around this delightful park with its fantastic trees.

'A couple of years ago I discovered a very special tree which I called the tree lady of Eaton Park.

'She was a very elegant Edwardian lady with her arms held aloft and her dress spinning as she danced.'

He added: 'Walking through the park at Christmas, I discovered that the lovely tree lady of Eaton Park is no more, cut down in her prime. A very sad tale indeed.'

A Norwich City Council spokesman said she could not pinpoint the precise reason the tree had been cut down, but added: 'We only fell dead, diseased, dying or dangerous trees, so it would have been chopped down for that reason rather than without just cause.'

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