In 2012, Robert Penn felled (and replanted) a great ash from a Welsh wood. He set out to explore the true value of the tree of which we have made the greatest and most varied use in human history. How many things can be made from one tree?

Over the next two years he travelled across Britain, to Europe and the USA, to the workshops and barns of a generation of craftsmen committed to working in wood. He watched them make over 45 artefacts and tools that have been in continual use for centuries, if not millennia.

With snow on the ground, a team of tree surgeons help to bring the tree down. Once the timber has been sawn into planks, Rob's project to see how many things can be made from one ash tree really begins. He starts with one of the earliest associations between man and ash - tool handles. It was the attaching of stone tool heads to wooden handles which allowed our Neolithic ancestors to cultivate the land, build homes, furniture, canoes and much more.

This is a tale about the joy of making things in wood, of its touch and smell, its many uses, and the resonant, calming effect of running our hands along a wooden surface. It is a celebration of man's close relationship with this greatest of natural materials and a reminder of the value of things made by hand and made to last.

Abridged by Jo Coombs
Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4. Show less