Celeste, Our Heavenly Little Tree

The heart of Sensate

There’s a particular kind of magic that lives at Sensate, and if you’ve ever walked through the doors, you’ve probably felt it before you’ve even realised why.

And at the centre of it all, quite literally, is Celeste.

Celeste is our 80‑year‑old Japanese Acer, and she’s always been a very special little tree. In spring and summer she glows with the brightest, freshest green, like she’s been painted by hand. Then autumn arrives and she turns this incredible, fiery red,  the kind that makes you stop mid‑sentence. And when winter comes, she lets her leaves go and reveals the most beautiful twisted knots and curves, like she’s quietly showing off the architecture of her life.

I’ve always loved her. She is (along with the doors) the centrepiece of the spa; people comment on her constantly, but for years I didn’t know much about her. I knew she was old (tree experts had told me that), and I knew she wasn’t very happy back when this place was a junkyard. But that was it. Her story was a mystery.

A Chance Encounter

And then one day, completely out of the blue, the most extraordinary thing happened.

I happened to be working outside when a little old man came tottering down the path, supported by his lovely wife. It was his 93rd birthday. He was looking around with this mixture of awe and nostalgia, and we got chatting. It turned out he used to own the building decades ago, maybe even before the building existed in its current form.

I showed him around, and he was absolutely delighted with the restoration. And then, almost as an afterthought, I asked if he knew anything about the tree.

He looked at Celeste, smiled, and said,

“Oh yes… I planted her when I was 13.”

It was one of those moments where the world goes a bit still.

I’d loved this tree for so long, wondered about her history, and then, by pure chance, I found myself standing with the one person who had planted her all those years ago. It felt like a gift.

The Naming Of Celeste

And her name, Celeste, meaning heavenly, wasn’t chosen by me at all. It came from a lovely young girl who worked in the café next door during the renovation. Back then, about 95% of people thought I’d lost the plot trying to turn a derelict, ugly space into a spa. I’d get the polite “there, there, Sarah” and the sympathetic pats on the back as people wandered off muttering “bless her… we’ll leave her to it.”

But this girl would bring me a coffee on her break and sit with me under the tree. She was the one person who said, “I can see it, Sarah.” She’ll never quite know how much that meant, how much it kept me going. One day, as we sat under the branches, she looked up and said, “She feels heavenly… you should call her Celeste.” And that was that.

A Tree With a Life of Her Own

So now, as Earth Day approaches, I find myself thinking about her, this little tree who has witnessed nearly a century of life, change, chaos, and renewal. She survived the junkyard years. She’s watched people come and go. She’s been a quiet companion to countless conversations, coffees, tears, and breakthroughs.

She’s a reminder that nature holds our stories long before we know them ourselves. And that sometimes, the most extraordinary things grow in the most unlikely places. That’s the story of our gorgeous Celeste, our heavenly tree, rooted in history, resilience, and a little bit of magic.

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