Its Only Natural

What an unexpected bonus for two days leave in February - temperatures in the high teens with a beautiful blue sky. Just lovely! Yesterday we had little trip to a nearby village called Inkpen to visit a ... field.

And what a field! The Inkpen Crocus Field is apparently "Britain's biggest display of wild crocuses" and I'm not surprised, but I am surprised that we only learned of its existence a couple of weeks ago.

The flowers aren't densely packed like in Kew Gardens or other cultivated gardens. It's prettier, I think, because the blooms aren't really in clumps as you may expect. Were they brought back by 12th Century crusaders? Or have they just escaped from nearby gardens? Well, surely there would be yellow ones if they were garden escapees....

Anyway, we loved it (and so did all the bees) and if you're in the area you should take a look.

And we saw a couple of deer while we were there - always a pleasure to spot these shy animals.

Male Roe Deer

Female Roe Deer

After that little jaunt we were working on the plot today. We cleared the patch where we had left potatoes in the ground. None suitable for eating, not surprisingly after all these months! Jamie gave it a good dig over once we'd cleared all the spuds - that looks better!

I planted up two pots for a Summer display - intended to pretty up the communal area during our Open Day in July/August (we haven't agreed a date yet). I added a small Rudbeckia plant to the Leucocoryne pot, as they are only meant to flower in June/July, whereas the Crocosmia should flower 'all Summer long'.

I chopped back all the snow-damaged broad bean plants - it hasn't left much growth! But we have plans to sow some more beans in modules, so if we manage to get even a few early ones from these plants we'll be happy.

And here's an impressive beetle I found. Looking gorgeous in the sunshine - A violet oil beetle, given away by lovely violet tinges on its sides and legs.

The title song by Crowded House is of course referring to the Inkpen Crocus Field.