I found the priceless hoard on the brow of the hill. There were hundreds of diamonds. Thousands. I’m not referring to a cache of precious stones but to the diamond-shaped markings on the pale bark of a pair of white poplars that I discovered as I wandered up Snape Hill. Rising 30 metres from the hedge, the two trees grew side by side, their thick trunks and branches graced with countless numbers of these lozenge patterns.