The churchyard is resplendent with spring flowers, the snowdrops are over but stitchwort, meadow sweet, bugle, fritillaries and primroses abound and there are many more cowslips than usual. Our millennium cherries were a lovely sight until a temporary return to winter stripped away the blossom. It was so cold that it wouldn’t have been surprising if real snow (there was a sprinkling on Clee Hill) had ‘hung along the bough’. The real glory of the spring though, has been the dandelions. The field opposite the cottage is a sight for sore eyes – a veritable field of gold in which I delight in spite of the inevitable invasion of the border with the white puff heads and roots which reach down to Australia.