TREES at a North Yorkshire stately home have been named among the best in the county.

The Tree Register, a national database, has identified four “champion” trees at Beningbrough Hall and Gardens, after the gardener Tom Longridge read about the scheme.

He said: “I found out about champion trees some time ago: the tallest and largest trees for each species in the country.

“Browsing through the register in a bookstore I couldn’t help but feel some of the Beningbrough trees were not only beautiful but might be in with a chance.”

Tom and his team had recently cleared a great deal of shrubbery at the National Trust site, and a particularly rare variety of beech was made accessible.

The Cockscomb Beech in the American Garden has only been in cultivation since the 1830s but is one of the larger trees on the property and experts were brought in to check its height, girth and estimated age.

A team from the Tree Registry came to take measurements, and confirmed it is a Yorkshire champion.

They also found the largest of the cherry trees on the Cherry Lawn is a Yorkshire champion for girth, the whitebeam in the playground is a Yorkshire champion for height and the Hungarian oak near the estate yard is a Yorkshire champion for height and girth.

Tom said: “I have my favourite trees in the garden, and discovering we have champion trees has not changed that, but now I have greater appreciation for those notable trees that hitherto might have been overlooked.”

The site is open to the public and guided garden tours will be held from March 1.