Signs Of Springtime

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade."

- Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

March is my favourite month by far (not just because it's birthday month - honest!) but because it's when if we're lucky, we get our first solid signs of splendid springtime! The snowdrops are now giving way to daffodils, crocuses and irises, the grass starts looking a fresher shade of green, and the birds are chattering away more in the garden. Throw into the mix a chance of more sunshine, fluffy lambs and easter bunnies and no wonder it's such a lovely month to find ourselves in! I have taken time on my lunch breaks to wander around my little town of Farnham (Surrey) and appreciate how very pretty and quintessentially English it is, as I feel I take it for granted! It's full of character properties like these little cottages and their charming wonky doors, sited just next to Saint Andrews Church, where I often perch on the benches to get some fresh air, it's a very pretty churchyard with some wonderfully detailed victorian graves (I find such things interesting...maybe not to everyones taste!)

Whilst walking in the woods this week I spotted my first bumblebee of the year sunning himself on this comfy looking moss (I have been corrected on Twitter to say it's actually a SHE Queen bee looking for a nest site - but to me, all bumbles are boys and that's just the way I see them, stubborn!) This was my most cheering sight as if they are braving it to be out and about, I should be too! I cleared the two large raised beds in my garden so they will be ready for my first lot of seeds very soon, can't wait to get growing! We visited The Packhouse for lunch and I found the green shepherds hut sitting outside, I liked the addition of the stained glass window very much.

It felt so good to be out working in the garden again, and my neighbours chickens were chattering away to each other, such a happy sound, it's a proper suburban homestead over here, I'm telling you! I love how Hilda's popping her head up in the photo like 'OH HEY!' hehe!

Mollie has been loving the longer woodland walks with beautiful Bader who loves nothing more than water and playing ball, it's those simple things in life - THOSE EYES!! Mollie had a well needed haircut this week so she went from a scruffy old sheep to a gleaming, Crufts standard Cairn again! She really doesn't like any fuss or brushing, but that winter coat had to go, she only ignored me for a few hours after ;).

Hope you've been having a good weekend, It's pretty mizzly and misty here today but fingers crossed it'll be back to springtime sunshine this week! Thanks for reading,

Katie

Flowers and other details/Charmouth 2012

Living Churchyards

I FINALLY developed the roll of 35mm that's been hidden inside my Yashica since New Year!!! (Awful effort at taking more photos! Must try harder!)

These two are actually very recent ones that I took at the Tunbridge Wells Woodbury Park Cemetery. It's a beautiful "Arcadian" Victorian cemetery (with the latest grave being from the 1930's) which is a refuge for all kinds of wildlife. Because it was originally carved out of grassland it retains a wide variety of plant life that is becoming rarer in towns. It also has a thriving bird collection, from song thrushes to greenfinches! We, however, also found it to be popular with Cats (the white one certainly made me jump!)





These fit in nicely with the "Living Churchyard" project I have been looking into. The National 'Living Churchyards and Cemeteries' scheme wants local communities to get involved in the management of their churchyards for the benefit of wildlife as well as the local congregation and visitors. In many churchyards lie the potential for beautiful wild flower meadows and patches of woodland. Also, the older gravestones provide a thriving environment for rare or unusual lichen (modern marble headstones cannot be naturally weathered, and no moss or lichen can attach to them). There are also the options for a "Green Burial" with cardboard coffins being used, I'm sure it is hard for some people to become comfortable with their bodies becoming compost, but at least you're being very useful to the environment!

Personally, I can't think of anything nicer than a churchyard full of wildlife, however, many local parishes have postponed the idea incase the place starts looking messy or dilapidated, not a good enough reason in my book. If the paths are kept clear and families can have the option to keep their own graves how they would prefer, i don't see how ANY church could turn down this scheme. Lets face it, so many of the older graves aren't even visited any more, if it wasn't for the volunteers, they wouldn't be tended at all! I cant see why all churches can't at least have a designated area for uninterrupted growth!

Churchyards are very often the last remaining sites of ancient medieval grasslands, and are sometimes the only green spaces available to town communities. The Victorian style of cemetery (such as Woodbury Park) were built with a similar purpose in mind! Ivy is another speciality of cemeteries, and when completely untended they often look as if they have been engulfed by it. The Victorians were particularly fond of ivy as a ground cover and to create atmosphere: they even incorporated ivy motifs into many of their headstones.

Personally, I would find both visiting and being buried in a place full of wildlife a FAR more pleasant idea than in a soulless inter-city plot.









These pictures are from the churchyard at Offchurch, Warwickshire. HERE are some examples of the Living Churchyard projects in Warwickshire, I think more southern locations need to take note!!

Thanks for reading!

Katie