Early Spring at Calke

So far my New Year resolutions aren't going well (still there's eleven months left for that), but the one I'm trying hardest to keep up is getting out regularly in the fresh air, and preferably some sunshine. I think I'm doing quite well. we've been to Church Wilne, Swan Lake and Shipley, and last week headed out to an old favourite, Calke Abbey.

winter honeysuckle

I'm not looking for a long hike, just a morning's wander somewhere interesting, and the advantage of visiting a garden, rather than say a nature reserve, is that the paths are likely to be drier and, in the event of frost, probably salted to avoid slipping.

witchhazel

hazel catkins

It's not the time of year to find much flowering but the small wood surrounding Calke's walled garden has various shrubs chosen deliberately for their winter interest - hazels and alders for their catkins, witchhazels and winter honeysuckle for flowers.




Despite an overnight frost still lingering in the shade, the walled gardens are generally warm and the palm trees looked to be doing okay with wallflowers beneath them just showing their first flowers.

guarding the leeks

The vegetable garden was mainly resting for winter but the scarecrows were making sure birds stayed away from the winter crops.

while snowdrops were flowering in front of the main greenhouse.

Passing out of the walled garden there's a wonderful view over Staunton Harold reservoir - looking bright but chilly in the distance.

And heading back through the wood I found snowdrops. In a week or two a huge swathe of woodland floor will be covered in flowers but for now there's just a few peeping through the leaf cover here and there.

They're always a welcome sign that winter is drawing to an end.