THE Hay Festival has been given a unique gift with a link to one of Britain’s most celebrated authors.

A sapling from the tree which gave untold inspiration to John Milton will be on show over the course of the event and will be planted near the festival site later in the year.

Christ’s College, Cambridge, gave permission for the sapling to be taken from the Milton Mulberry Tree in celebration of 400 years since the poet’s birth.

Legend has it that Milton spent many hours reading and writing near the tree as an undergraduate, and in later life wrote Lycidas in its shade.

The tree, planted in the year of Milton’s birth, 1608, stands in Fellow’s Garden at the college and produces a good crop of fruit most years which is turned into mulberry jam.

The potted sapling will be on stage for Anna Beer’s Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer and Patriot speech on Saturday, and will be displayed on the Woodland Trust stand for the duration of the festival.

It will be kept in the care of the Woodland Trust over the summer and planted in Drover’s Wood, Upper Breinton, in the autumn.

• Janet Watt is to deliver a talk on ‘Nature Detectives’ for the Woodland Trust and a number of speakers including Clive Anderson, Monty Don and Felix Dennis are set to speak about trees at this year’s festival.