Cowslips

Sometimes you just go out for an afternoon and then come across something you weren't expecting that suddenly takes your breath away. We were having an afternoon at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire and were just walking in the woods when through the trees I spotted this huge swathe of yellow in a clearing. I had to have a closer look and cut through the trees to see. Cowslips - just thousands of them! 

The cowslip is such a bright and cheerful sight and I've never seen a field so full like this before. It is a common plant in meadows and hedgerows and it's often a cheerful sight when you spot them growing under hedgerows on banks by the roadside. They have declined over the years - especially during the seventies and eighties with advancements in agriculture - so to see it growing like this is a rare thing. 

They are an intricate flower with their crinkly leaves and tube type clusters of flowers on tall stems stretching up to the sunshine. The name 'cowslip' is derived from old English for cow dung, because it was often found on cow pasteurland; it can also be interpreted as simply 'slippery', as it was often found in boggy areas. 

It has other 'folk' names: herb pevier, key of heaven, fairy cups and palsywort to name a few. I love 'fairy cups', as it's little delicate flowers resemble just that, as they sway to and fro in the breeze! 

For more pics of the grounds at Anglesey Abbey take a look at my other blogpost on Life is for the Living

Blossoms and Tulips

Although I love most months of the year, there is always something special about May. I don't know whether it's because the birdsong has reached its highest and loudest and gives the most soothing sound on a sunny day or if it's the promise of many more warm summer days to come or even that the garden has just simply burst into life. There are so many bright green leaves opening out and buds and flowers blooming. It's probably a combination of all of these things that make May feel exciting. 

We visited Wimpole Hall Estate in Cambridgeshire, a National Trust place that we frequent often and a place that always has a new look to it at different times of year. As usual the gardens and grounds were stunning, but on this May visit, it was the tulip displays and the blossom trees that really took my eye. 

The trees in the orchards were heavy with blossom and the meadows below them were blooming with swathes full of cow parsley, buttercups and tulips. The rest of the grasses were just covered in pink petals, raining elegantly from the trees. Just beautiful. Tulips of all colours and varieties filled corners and borders in the walled garden and borders and there was a fabulous tulip display in front of the house. 

We stopped and watched a whole flock of goldfinches dipping and fluttering in and out of the borders. They were too fast and busy for me to capture on camera though! The blackbirds were singing their hearts out above. Very uplifting. 

That's what it is - that's the word I was looking for - uplifting -  May is uplifting!