A pair of giant trees which will form part of a crowd-pleasing display at this year's Great Yorkshire Show have been felled with surgical precision.

Coming down: A college student prepares to fell a Douglas fir in Dalby Forest for the Great Yorkshire Show. Picture by Frank Dwyer

The 120ft tall trees were trimmed and gently lowered to the ground yesterday in Dalby Forest, north of Thornton-le-Dale.

Arboricultural students from Houghall College, Durham, climbed the Douglas firs and used chain saws to trim the branches.

An intricate pulley system was used to lower the trees, each weighing between five and six tonnes.

Once on the ground, the trees were stripped of their bark to be transported about 50 miles to the Yorkshire Showground at Harrogate at a later date.

The trees have been donated by the Forestry Commission for the Great Yorkshire Show, which takes place from July 13 to 15.

Judy Thompson, spokeswoman for the show organisers, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, said: "In three months' time, they will be used for an exciting new attraction - pole climbing, where experts race to the top and down again, all against the clock."

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