Greetings timber lovers,

I do love sharing a good bit of wood with the world, whether sculpted, sanded, or simply one of our astounding wood kitchens – if it piques my interest, I can’t wait to share it with you.

Hold on to your hats for this one, and prepare yourself for something that would have previously been hailed as science fiction, or simply wishful thinking: a single tree that bears over 40 different type of tree from one trunk. Before you get too excited by the possibilities of your own single-tree fruit store though, consider the huge effort undertaken by artist Sam Van Aken in creating these freaks of nature.

Each tree begins life as a rather odd-looking specimen resembling some kind of warped science experiment, and slowly develops into what could easily be mistaken for a variety of other trees for much of the year. In spring, the trees bloom to reveal a bootiful example of what can happen when nature truly inspires art. Over the course of several months, Van Aken’s trees produce a delicious harvest of plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, and almonds, including many stone fruits you’ve likely never seen before.

So far, Van Aken has meticulously created 16 trees, which are placed in museums, community centres and private art collections all over America. Each tree takes around 5 years to go through the entire process of grafting the wide variety of species onto the host.

On the future of the project, Van Aken said: “Eventually, I would like to create a grove or small orchard of these trees in an urban setting. I have always stayed away from artwork that educates people, but to some extent these works in addition to being beautiful and producing fruit cause one to reconsider the possibilities with food and fruit production.”

I might not be able to offer you 40 types of timber species, but here at deTerra we have 23 of the finest wooden worktops around, and we can provide samples of any one of the solid wood worktops in our range. They’re only £5 including delivery, so take advantage today – we’ll even refund the cost if you go on to place an order with us.

Ta ta for now,

The deTerra Diarist

Hey hey hey, guys and gals,

Just a quick one to remind you that there’s less than a week to take advantage of our ‘Jolly July’ sale!

So why not beat the sweltering heat and get online? You can buy a whole bunch of stuff to create perfect natural kitchens at better-than-ever prices – we’re offering 10% off across almost everything (the only thing not included is samples – but they’re cheapity cheap anyway).

Or, if you fancy witnessing our products up-close-and-personal – with prices this affordable sometimes the quality needs to be seen to be believed! – pop into our showroom! We’ve got air conditioning…

Conveniently situated off the M5, our showroom is open from 9am-5pm on weekdays and 10am-2pm on Saturdays. We’ve got nine full kitchen displays showcasing a super-duper range of wooden worktops and oak cabinets. And we’re not just handy for huge kitchen projects: even if you’re just looking for a way to freshen up, we’ve got sale items that might be useful. Just changing your worktops or cabinet doors can make a huge difference to your kitchen, after all – or what about a change of colour scheme? You’ll find plenty of colour inspiration with deTerra: our Top Picks are here to help, as are our friendly staff within the showroom.

So, whatever your kitchen ambitions are this summer, enjoy the mahoosive savings on offer by entering the discount code ‘Jolly10’ into the online checkout – you won’t be disappointed. Sale ends 31st July!

Ta ta for now,

The deTerra Diarist

Greetings earth lovers,

There’s not much better on a British summer’s day than sitting in a local park or open space, and watching the natural world go about its merry way. It’s unfortunate, then, that these spaces are becoming fewer and sparser in our ever-sprawling cityscapes.

Projects like the Woodland Trust’s ‘Free Tree Packs’ for schools, communities and youth groups, help keep Britain’s beautiful public places packed with nature, and safeguards them for future generations to enjoy – something which I’m pretty darn keen on.

They’ve got over 4,000 free tree packs to give away to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, in a bid to create a once-in-a-generation tribute to those who gave their lives to protect Britain’s freedom. Over the next four years, they plan to offer three million trees to help school children and local communities create a legacy that will “stand tall for centuries to come”. I can’t think of anything more appropriate than trees – the natural symbol of strength and beauty.

If you like the sound of making your community more green – and who wouldn’t – then head over to the Woodland Trust website and fill in their form by the 4th of September to apply for either a small (30 saplings), medium (104 saplings) or large (420 saplings) pack, that are sourced and grown in the UK.

Planning on kitting out your abode with one of our wooden kitchens? All material is sustainably-sourced within Europe – for every tree cut at least one tree is planted – and our efficient processes mean that every scrap of timber is used: offcuts are used to make chopping boards, fuel for our biomass boiler, and samples. Why not order a sample today and experience the quality on offer for yourself? Whilst they cost £5 upfront, if you decide to place an order with us, we’ll refund the cost of the sample – making them as-good-as free!

Ta ta for now,

The deTerra Diarist

Hey dudes and dudettes,

How’s it hanging?

This week I’ve been doing a little reading (don’t look so surprised) and was absolutely captivated by The Observer’s imagining of a future kitchen. Wow.

From washing with dry ice to eating lab-grown meat, the future sure has some surprises in store. But not all of these are too far off what we can already picture: ‘smart’ appliances – like the fridge in the Guardian image – and 3D printers are already being trialled to some extent. Not sure about the whole ‘guzzling grasshoppers’ idea, though. That sounds… icky.

What would your ideal kitchen invention of the future be? A robot that could cook gourmet meals which didn’t break the bank or involve any need for me to raise a finger (from chopping to washing up), would be a winner as far as this Diarist’s household is concerned.

Whatever the year may be, you’ll get oak kitchens from deTerra that are the ultimate in sophis’. Our cool collection of solid wood kitchen cabinets, which come with whizzy Blum hinges, will have your kitchen feeling as sleek as a flying car. Or, if you want to go a bit space-age, channel the Millennium Falcon with swathes of stainless steel – from appliances to splashbacks to wirework, there’s a metallic mate for every need. And who knows? Maybe deTerra Kitchens, version year 3000, will have some Cabineto-style oak robots to store your goods in – and showroom in outer space…

Ta ta for now,

The deTerra Diarist

Good day deTerrarinos,

Have you checked your vision and got your brain in gear? The natural beauty of timber used for solid wood kitchens sometimes causes the human brain to see what it wants to – from animals to people. I’ve come across some trees that look as if some animals have been locked away within their bark.

Just to avoid any confusion I’ve rounded up 5 of my favourite trees that are most certainly plants rather than animals:

The Octo-tree

All bow down to the mighty Cthulhu! This isn’t the fossil of a landlubbing kraken, but rather a bizarre growth of roots that just so happens to look like a land-dwelling octopus.

Hippopotatrunk

After many appearances on the kid’s TV programme, George the Hippo was turned into tree form, to live on for eternity. Ok, I might be telling a slight porky there, but the resemblance of this rogue tree trunk to a hippopotamus is uncanny!

Root Dawg

When autumn storms ripped up this oak tree in Alexandra Park in Ipswich, the council workers tasked with making it safe couldn’t help but notice that the root ball looks uncannily canine. Hopefully its bark is worse than its bite…

Cow-wood

OK, so this one requires a little squinting to make it out, but once you’ve spotted it you won’t be able to un-see the cow trapped within the trunk of a yew tree in Coldwaltham, West Sussex.

The True Tree Lizard

Some might see this tree anomaly as the great Eye of Sauron from Lord of The Rings, but personally all I see is an over-sized reptilian eye that is looking right in to the depths of your lizard-less soul.

I’ve never seen an animal lurking in our solid wood cabinets or wooden worktops before, but you never know what might emerge! After tuning my eyes into these wooden beasts I might be looking at wood grain in a different light from now on…

Ta ta for now,

The deTerra Diarist