Writing this on bank holiday Monday, the weather is very different to yesterday when we had a lovely Easter walk through woods and parkland; now it’s raining under gloomy grey cloud.

We headed out to one of our usual woodlands in search of bluebells. As we entered Badby Woods, not far from Daventry, it seemed we were too early, as many of the flowers had yet to open. However, walking on further, towards the western end of the woods, we came across great carpets of blooming bluebells. There were also smaller areas of celandines and a few wood anemones dotted around.

We usually just wander around the woods when we visit Badby, but yesterday we decided to wander onto footpaths through the grounds of Fawsley Manor. Approaching the edge of the steep hill above the house, we could see across a wide oven, rolling countryside, with its patchwork of fields and woods, out beyond the parkland below. A typical rural English scene and one we agreed to explore further over the coming months.

The weather was stunning for late April; a bright blue sky with a mackerel bank of cloud, little breeze, and a strong sun which made it feel almost hot when not in the shade.

The weather made the spring seem more vibrant with the leaves bursting from buds on the trees, their delicate, softness a constant to their vibrant greens, made almost luminous by the sun.

This was an almost perfect spring day, now making this typically drab bank holiday more miserable. The compensation being that the land really needs the rain having had very little for the past few weeks. On our walks this weekend, we’ve seen how the farmland soils are already starting to crack open due to lack of moisture, so a day of steadily falling rain will be a real help.