Literary Trees – Roald Dahl’s Cherry Tree

Did you know that the tree that inspired Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach was actually a cherry tree? There was an ancient one that grew in Dahl’s garden at Gipsy House in Great Missenden, and one day he began idly wondering what would happen if the birds left the fruit alone and one of the cherries just kept growing and growing. The book came close to being named ‘James and the Giant Cherry’. He thought about several different fruits as possibilities (such as pears and apples) but decided on a peach because it is ‘prettier, bigger and squishier than a cherry’. Sadly, the original cherry tree is no longer in the garden today, as it reached the end of its natural lifespan.

It’s interesting to learn that cherries were first introduced into England by King Henry VIII. He had tried them in Flanders and thought them delicious. The first trees were planted in Teynham in Kent. The fruit has, however, been eaten in other places since prehistoric times.

James and the Giant Peach was published in 1961, illustrated by Quentin Blake. It was Dahl’s first conscious attempt to write for children and was dedicated to his two daughters – his daughter Olivia tragically died from measles the following year. It’s the story of an orphan boy (his parents have been eaten by a rhinoceros) who enters a huge peach and has magical and surreal adventures. It’s a slightly macabre story which has often attracted the attention of censors.