The County Flower

Took a break from the garden and went out to keep our walking muscles in good shape, ready for the next trip. The sun had also taken a break, leaving us to the mercy of an extremely cold wind - our springer was happy that the temperature had dropped, but we'd have preferred it a little warmer! Our route took us through a wood on the edge of the town - the first time I'd been there in the spring. It's a wood used for our cross-country running once a year, so I'm used to sloshing around in mud, more of a balancing challenge than a run. Anyway, with the weather we've been having the tracks are hard and dry, and, with the management work the Woodland Trust volunteers have been carrying out, spring flowers everywhere, including anemones, violets - and oxlips!! The latter are the real thing, Primula elatior, not the hybrids sometimes given the oxlip name - very local, found mainly in woodland on heavy clay (yes, mud!!) in parts of Suffolk and Essex. An excellent walk, despite the wind!