Ypres chestnut tree battered but unbowed by wars wins Belgian award

Tree that has survived bombing and search for firewood is voted country's tree of the year

A chestnut tree that survived both the bombardment of Ypres in the first world war and a desperate hunt for firewood during the second has been named Belgium's tree of the year in recognition of its survival in the face of adversity.

The tree, the sole survivor of a chestnut avenue planted 160 years ago when the city's medieval fortifications were turned into a public park, had been left as little more than a stump by the brutal warfare that raged around it between 1914 and 1918.