At the end of last year we moved house from our little country cottage to a big country cottage! It's been exhausting getting everything sorted with the house and settling the children into their new schools. I've been rather daunted by the epic proportions of our new garden which hasn't been helped by the long, dark, cold winter.
It's amazing what a bit of sunshine does for the spirit, though and yesterday morning I wandered round our garden in my pyjamas, with a steaming cup of tea, in a delirious state of happiness! The blue sky was the perfect back drop for buds just waiting to burst and the trees were full of birds singing their hearts out.
Swathes of Snowdrops carpet the woodland floor which is damp and woody smelling. With the risk of sounding like a bit of a ponce, it reminds me of the first verse of the 'Promise of Spring' poem by Edith Nesbit.
'JUST a whisper, half-heard, But our heart knows the word; Caresses that seem Like love's lips in a dream; Yet we know she is here, The desirèd, the dear, The love of the year!
In the murmur of boughs, In the softening of skies, In the sun on the house, In the daffodil's green (Half an inch, half-unseen Mid the mournful brown mould, Where the rotten leaf lies) Her story is told.'
I love that bit 'Just a whisper, half heard...' it is so true for this time of year when there are only glimses of promise. ..
Ok, so the ponds currently look like The Somme, but we do have lots of green daffs in our mini orchard...and a lot of mouldy, brown leaves...
This is the wonderful view of the Kilcott Valley which runs along the length of our garden.
