Thanks for all your comments:

After seeing this http://www.cambridge2000.com/gallery/html/P3125281.html
I'm covinced that they are Platanus.
So I can assure my family that the effect is perfectly natural?
Would anyone like to tell me how/why the bark forms these shapes?

Cheers
Mark

(Nick Maclaren) wrote in message ...
In article ,
Thes writes:
|
| But with sycamore-shaped leaves? Probably not a Eucalypt as their leaves
| are all lanceolate or round at best, but not lobed. Perhaps it's a
| Platanus - their bark can look like that when they're still young(ish).
|
| http://www.cambridge2000.com/gallery/html/P3125281.html

That is much more likely than a maple! While some maples do shed
bark, they don't normally do it like eucalypts, and planes do.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.