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
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