“This is proper England” I found myself saying this morning, on another Tuesday morning walk with my friend B. This is a stunning new find for both of us: Evenley Wood Garden. It’s one to return to through the four seasons, to see how it’s changed.
While there we heard a woodpecker, saw various birds and heard their birdsong, caught a group of about five beautiful pheasants picking their way through the undergrowth and came across no other walkers at all, no dogs, no children and no traffic noise. A perfect patch of England, and it was all ours for an hour and a half. 
I love this tall variety of snowdrops. 
Look! It’s a carpet of cyclamen.
Hellebores, my Mother’s favourites (along with snowdrops) and there were other colours too. I didn’t photograph any more though, as we are meant to be walking briskly while looking, not just stopping and staring slack jawed.
A stream runs right through the woods. There are various bridges to cross, but I drew the line at one which was little more than a plank. Guess who had walked a mere ten steps at the beginning of the walk, then slid in slow-motion to the left, ending up lying in mud? B helped me up, like the old lady I felt I had become and then cheerfully stated: “It could have been worse; you could have choked on your pear drop!” I was walking and squelching for a while, until the mud and puddle water dried off a bit.
I came home and announced: “I’ve had a fall.”
“Don’t be ridiculous; you’re too young to ‘have a fall’, you’ve just fallen over in a lot of mud. Ha ha.”
“Hurumph!”
More cyclamen, and a close up of some of the patch.
I’m not sure what the yellow flowers are…something in the far reaches of my brain (aka custard) is whispering aconites. Am I right?
It’s Knit Night tonight, I haven’t been for weeks. I think the last, and actually only, time I’ve been this year was back in January. Then the call of the sofa and the recent Siberian weather made me cling to the tv remote and sofa, hard. It’s time to come out of hibernation now.
Is it the sofa for you, or are you heading to the great outdoors to socialise one/some/most evenings at the mo?
The Little Room of Rachell 
The carpet of cyclamen is amazing! How wonderful! And the yellow flowers seem to be Winter Aconite. (Glad I looked that up and saw it in your post as I think we have some.)
It’s a real treat. I can’t wait to see the summer flowers. Thank you for the confirmation.
What a lovely place for a walk. And looks a perfect day too. Not too warm and I imagine not too cold either.
Yes, absolutely. It was about 6-7 degrees I’d say. Lovely morning.
O-o-o-oh!! (You’ve probably guessed your cyclamen left me speechless.)
That’s almost too much ! :)
I was wondering whether the yellow flowers could be a yellow variant of forest anemones but they can be aconites just as well.
The place is perfect! And in such lovely weather…
Instead of the sofa, I’m heading for the cinema tonight: “The Darkest Hour.”
It’s a great film, whatshisname so deserves the Oscar. Enjoy!
I agree… Gary Oldman was incredible!
That’s him! Yes, and very glad the make-up guy got one as well.
Exactly. I’ll never understand how the transformation was achieved… a complete change of a man! I’ll definitely buy the film when it’s available on DVD.
It’s my WI Craft Evening so am heading out armed with needles and yarn to do some more work on my “module knitting” project (a waistcoat – eventually!)
Have fun Jane!
PS I typed “modulo” the spell checker inserted the “e”!
Those are beautiful flowers. I wish snowdrops would grow here.
Where are you based Deborah?
I’ve never seen cyclamen growing like that before, I thought they only came in pots and needed regular care. Sorry you slipped in the mud – your friend didn’t happen to get it on video, did she?…. ;)
It happened so fast (but also in that slo-mo type of way) that I had no time to even squawk – she was in front and happened to turn around to see me down in the mud! If there was a video I’d be charging a fortune for views. But thanks so much for your concern.
xxx
Lovely 🕊🌸🌺🦋
What beautiful flowers :)
I like to get my socialising out of the way at the beginning of the week, so I can spend the rest of it crocheting!