Saturday 27 February 2016

February Snowdrops

February brings the rain,
Fills the flooded dyke again...
Well, it's tried...
          But we've had some sunny if cold days recently, and I got out from behind the desk...


This is Attingham Park, near Shrewsbury. It's owned by the National Trust. The manor was closed, which didn't trouble me - I was there to walk in the park. I  think the house is quite ugly. A big grey box and a bit of a blot on the landscape.

This is what I was there for - 



I have about three snowdrops in my garden. At Attingham, there's a few more.







 There's not just snowdrops and knife-like winds slicing across sunny glades, though. There are trees fit for Herne the Hunter to stalk around...


And a river...


There's a deer-park, where a notice asks you to keep your dogs on a lead and not to approach the deer. If I'd seen any, I'd have given them the widest possible berth, honest, but they'd all gone somewhere warm. The cafe, probably, which is why there was a long queue of cold, patient human beings at the door, giving each other resigned smiles. (I gave them a wide berth too, and went to a less crowded cafe a few miles away.)


I'd thought I'd have Attingham to myself but no, the place was heaving - at least, the snowdrop walk was. Once I was out in the woodlands and the deer park I was able to wander lonelier...

Looking ahead:
March winds do blow
And we shall have snow...

Well, this is Britain plus global warming. We could have anything from snow, to bright hot sunshine or torrential rain - or, all of the above. We will just have to wait and see.

 
 

6 comments:

Joan Lennon said...

All the pleasures of a walk without even being dressed yet - thank you!

Susan Price said...

You were spared the knife-like wind too - but I bet you've had plenty of those up in Scotland lately.

madwippitt said...

I was about to be dead impressed by your garden pond. Then I read that it wasn't yours :-) But those snowdrops - amazing and lovely!

Jenny Alexander said...

Gorgeous pics - I almost felt I was there!

Susan Price said...

The lake in one's grinds is even more impressive, Karen. We think so, anyway.

Katherine Roberts said...

Snowdrops are wonderful in a setting like that - I once visited a garden near Stroud (but can't remember the name!) where they had similar drifts - rather less wild, though, and no deer.