True Blue

The bluebells have been out quite early this year and are one of the most amazing sights you can come across - especially if you do not expect to find them.

The weather has been really unsettled this weekend but it cleared up during Sunday afternoon. I decided to have a quick walk round the marsh but somehow felt the urge to take a much longer route to visit one of my favourite trees in the area.

favourite tree

I saw single bluebells here and there, most of them fading fast, then suddenly a blue mist through the hazel. Unfortunaly my camera does not pick up the true colour of the bluebells, which is a much deeper, almost royal blue against the fresh green of the first leaves of the surrounding trees.

blue mist

During the last months I have been visiting local gardens that are open under the National Garden Scheme and haven't posted any photos - here is a best of:

at Sharcott Manor

Sharcott Manor

before the storm

at Oare House

Oare House

more bluebells at Oare House

birches and bluebells

Sunny Side Up

This is the first warm, sunny weekend of the year and everyone here in Hungerford seemed to rush out to enjoy the warmth. You can literally watch the plants in the garden grow; some of my early tulips are already out, looking a bit moth-eaten due to two months of relentless rainfall. The two camellia blossoms that have opened during last week look remarkably different from each other, which is a lovely surprise.

chameleon camellia

I went for a quick walk around the marsh at midday, found a cherry tree in full bloom which was filled with bumble bees and butterflies and spent the afternoon reading in the garden. Even though the sun rises over the surrounding rooftops just for a short while, all the bricks and flints in the walls are heating up quickly - Spring has arrived.

St Lawrence and the Kennet & Avon canal

Freeman's Marsh

sorry - still obsessed with trees in bloom

In Bloom

 

ANOTHER grey and drizzly Sunday but today I managed to persuade myself that I definitely needed to go on a walk. I joined a guided walk of the local environmental group to nearby Chilton Foliat and we managed to get home before the rain really took off. On our walk I saw the first blossom-covered trees of the year and every Spring this feels like a punch in the chest (in a good way). Suddenly the air is filled with a sweet almond-y smell (almost like marzipan) and the beauty of these first blossoms is simply touching. I could not resist bringing a spray into the cottage ...

hazel catkins

favourite oak tree

 

cherry blossom in Chilton Foliat

Tombspotting

Avebury

As this is another grey, occasionally drizzly Sunday I decided NOT to go on a walk today. Instead I looked back through all the photos I took during my blogging hiatus. I had toured the nearby sites of Ancient Britain - the Ridgeway, the Uffington White Horse, Wayland's Smithy, Avebury and West Kennet Long Barrow.

Some of them I have visited on family holidays before and I keep returning to Avebury, which is a mere 20 minute drive away and holds a deep fascination for me, which I can't really explain. I have always felt drawn to burial mounds and monuments and some of my stories are inspired by them. My favourite site is in Schleswig-Holstein, near the Baltic coast in Northern Germany but Avebury certainly comes second!

On the Ridgeway - allegedly Britain's oldest road

Uffington Castle

Head of the Uffington White Horse

Wayland's Smithy

Wayland's Smithy

West Kennet Long Barrow (Silbury Hill in the background)

West Kennet Long Barrow

Snowdrop Sunday

This Sunday, I drove to nearby Welford Park to visit the famous Snowdrop Beech Woods. I have been there before, two years ago, and always wanted to go back. The glorious weather was a more than welcome break from the relentless rain and storms of the last months. The sunshine gave an eerie transparency to the masses of white petals so the whole ground seemed to be covered with glittering snow and a delicately sweet scent seemed to be in the air ... Spring is definitely on its way!

Combe with a View

Wayfarer's Walk, Berkshire

Just a ten minute's drive from Hungerford, on Walbury Hill near Combe, is the highest natural point in the South East of England. Today was cold and drizzly. I had planned to walk a bit on the Wayfarer's Walk on the ridge but the wind was so harsh that I had to find another route, tightly wrapped up in wooly hat, scarf and gloves. As the car was parked up on the ridge I had to make my way back up ... but at least I was quite warm after climbing up the hill:

Selfie with crumpled collar

50th anniversary style

I have never seen so many pheasants in my life, they seem to be everywhere this time of year. Only one of them didn't rush off in a panic ...

posing pheasant

gloriously golden larch in Combe, Berkshire

November view

almost up on the ridge

Border Traffic

I drove the 3 miles from Hungerford to Shalbourne today, from West Berkshire to Wiltshire. I always try to walk new circular routes and it was a bright and cold day, just perfect (apart from the seriously muddy footpaths). The light seems to be of a particular brittleness this time of year, the sky has a special transparency to it. On some of the photos I took today one can actually get a sense of it.

near Shalbourne, Wiltshire.

Cichorium intybus

There are still flowers to be found. I was amazed to find lots of chicory blossoms on my way from Shalbourne to Ham, a flower I normally associate with the height of summer. The German name for Cichorium intybus is "Wegwarte" ("guardian of the path") and it is my favourite wild flower. Now that the leaves are falling, my eyes are drawn even more to the trees. Large cedars of Lebanon fascinate me, the vivid colours of larches ...