Signs of Spring

When do you know that spring is on the way?  Not, for me, a specific calendar date but a subtly transformative sensation in the air  - alerting and enlivening all the senses.  Gradually lengthening days with (hooray!) brighter skies; happy bursts of colour burgeoning all around; blossom precociously composing itself for star status, smiles more prevalent on friendly faces.

Yesterday afternoon, in royal Richmond Park, the temperature remained chilly but the sun shone abundantly - encouraging spring shoots to nudge their way above ground.  I was captivated by the open-faced charm of the early-flowering white clematis, strewn beguilingly with deep-pink freckles.

Strange the contrast  - a mere few yards up the hill - where a faintly forlorn coterie of snowdrops are close to their annual curtain call, making way for new life.

Floral Close-ups

The garden beauties were ready for their close-up tonight...
A host of mini golden daffodils:

Sumptuously blowsy apple blossom crowning the rosemary below...

The resplendent clean-scented rosemary, in all her flowering glory...

spring beauty in Richmond

How do you welcome in Spring?  I can think of so many ways... but one of my favourite has to be enjoying the beauty of nature in nearby Richmond.  It's no wonder that many celebrities choose to live there, in one of the wonderful houses, close to Richmond Hill and Richmond Park.   

One of the best views in London is experienced when walking up (or down) the Hill and looking towards the river Thames and Petersham. If you have never been there, you might recollect the stunning setting from the film The Hours, where Nicole Kidman played Virginia Woolf.

If you're in London, or ever plan on visiting, don't miss this view!

spring forward!

I never really classify myself as suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) - in its true medical sense - but phew!, do I breathe a huge sigh of relief, when the clocks go forward and I can relish the prospect of longer, light-filled evenings, and brighter, more temperate days. I think I’m with the majority in wishing that we didn’t have to go through the six monthly clock-changing palaver. What a waste, and oh!, what a difference it would make, if we could have that extra evening hour of natural light, in the gloomier winter months, too. It’s a whole time-worn debate, I know, but along with many I believe it's become an outdated tradition.

What a shame, for the Oxford and Cambridge rowing teams, that they couldn’t have had their moment today, rather than yesterday... On that theme - combined with the delightful anticipation of longer evenings - I have to share a beautiful photo I took, last summer, of a stunning sunset over Putney Bridge.