1st February 2021 - Speaking Too Soon and 2,500

Yet to find out what February has in store for us, I hope I am not speaking too soon when I say, I am glad to see the back of January. I may have a moan about the rain and the cold during January, but it has in truth been a proper winter’s month. Not a bad start today to February; dry with sunshine this afternoon but still on the cold side. Although the soil is still very wet, the grass was reasonably dry this morning enabling Peter to get the mower out and cut the lawns excess growth. I followed on with the edging and while I was out in the front garden, no less than six villagers stopped to pass the time of day. No wonder it takes a time to do anything out the front, but would I have it any other way – no, of course not. This afternoon was a similar scenario when we took Barney for a walk, stopping at the shop to buy a birthday card. The only difference being, there were not just villagers out for a walk, others who should not be here were doing the same.

I know there are quite a number of different types of snowdrops but while writing this, I was unable to recall how many. Thanks to the internet and Countryfile’s website I have been able to determine, there are 2,500 varieties. We only see a few of these in gardens, hedgerows and growing on banks in and around the village. It will a couple of weeks yet before the flowers on what is termed as the ‘snowdrop walk’ are in their prime but in the meantime I sneaked a photo of an impressive clump bordering a driveway in the village.