鲍鱼tv

Brett Westwood embraces the Willow. A tree celebrated across cultures for its beauty and versatility, it's the tree we鈥檝e hugged closer than any other. Brett learns from Joan Armatrading how the willow can take away our pain, and visits the willow fields of the Somerset levels, where tall-growing willows sway like a bamboo forest.

As it weeps by our waterways and whispers in our hedgerows, it鈥檚 given us endless laments, has been used by witches for magic wands and broomsticks, and has been turned into everything from charcoal to coffins, to painkillers.

Natural Histories - the only programme where Monet and Shakespeare meet The Wicker Man and folk-rock supergroup Steeleye Span.

Producer: Melvin Rickarby