British Farmer Creates Heart-Shaped Meadow as Tribute to Late Wife Mapquest A heart is formed by over 6000 oak trees which Winston Howe planted as a tribute to his late wife near Wickwar, England. When Winston Howes" wife, Janet, died 17 years ago, he wanted to find a meaningful and lasting way to honor her. So Howes headed out to the 112-acre farm he owns near the town of Wickwar, in the southwestern English countryside. He set aside a 6-acre plot and spent a week planting thousands of oak saplings, leaving a perfectly heart-shaped clearing in the middle. The heart measures about an acre across and points to the childhood home of Howes" wife, the Daily Telegraph reports. She died at the age of 50 after suffering from heart failure in 1995. The pair had been married for 33 years. PHOTOS: Love Ever After: a Valentine's Day Special Howes" heart-shaped tribute to Janet is bordered by a bushy hedge and is only accessible from a track leading to the tip. And indeed, if it seems rather secretive, that's because until recently, it was. You'd never know the heart existed unless you got an aerial view, like hot air balloonist Andy Collett did when he flew over Howes" farm last week and noticed the secret symbol. "It was a perfect heart hidden away from view," Collett told the Daily Telegraph. You can just imagine the love story. Howes said he sometimes retreats to the secret meadow - now surrounded by some 6,000 oak trees - to sit and reflect. He plants daffodils in the middle that bloom every spring. Howes has flown over his farm to get the full aerial effect, just like Collett, but he doesn't have to imagine the love story. He lived it. A Brief History of its Many Medical Meanings