Woody,
maybe I did not pick up on it previously, but...eh, 'What's checker wood' please?
I remember the unfinished product, this looks great and the wood is so pale (checker from the Chess & checkers board wooden squares?)
It is one of our oldest wild woodland trees
Wild Service Tree (Sorbus torminalis)
Distinct from the Service Tree (Sorbus domesticus), the Wild Service Tree, also known as the "Chequer Tree, checker tree", is now one of our rarest native trees, concentrated in the southern Weald, where it is associated with ancient woodland and clay soils. At a distance Wild Service Trees can be mistaken for Acers in the autumn when their leaves turn bright red and copper. It flowers beautifully, however, in May.
The Wild Service Tree suckers freely, which is just as well as its crop of fruit - or "chequers" - is almost entirely predated by birds and insects. The fruit is edible for us once frosted and softened; it was a Neolithic staple and remained popular into the 19th century. Inevitably folk also made wine out of it, served at Chequers Inns -
