February is the month for snowdrops
If we don’t get more snow in February, you can at least guarantee that we’ll start to see snowdrops. Maybe it’s enough to tempt you away from your cosy fireside for a bracing walk around a winter garden? Did you know that there are 19 species of snowdrop (or galanthus, meaning milk flower) and more than 500 varieties. Soldiers brought many of them back from the Crimean War battlefields (1853-1856). Although most are white, not all are.
Several sites around the country hold special events around viewing their snowdrops. Some of the most well-known are Hodsocks Priory in Nottinghamshire (below) and Colesbourne Park near Cirencester.
Hodsocks Priory in snowdrop season
There’s also Gatton Park, Reigate, Surrey; Anglesey Abbey (National Trust) Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Burton Agnes in East Yorkshire and Finlaystone in Scotland. There are others all around the country so there’s bound to be one near you.
Take plenty of photographs: snowdrops are particularly photogenic and lend themselves as a subject for a framed set of pictures. And after your bracing walk, why not have a warming hot chocolate or even a mulled wine as you warm your toes by your toasty fire! There’s even a snowdrop mug by Emma Bridegwater to have your hot chocolate in!
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Ah…. but it did snow in February… a little. Great thing is though that you want to get back inside infront of the roaring fireplace!!
So true. The first thing I wanted to do after coming in from a lovely walk round the snowdrops was have a hot drink and toast my chilled toes in front of a cosy gas fire. Somehow standing in front of a radiator wouldn’t have cut it! And now I have great snowdrop pictures to group on the wall above the fireplace – to remind me that winter won’t be here forever!
I was at a friend’s the other night and every room was cold but one…. the lounge, for the simple reason that there was a lovely old looking wood burning stove glowing orange from the embers. It was one of those contemporary stoves or traditional stoves where you can use multifuel, coal or smokeless coal. This one was a great example of a wood burning stove, with good old fashioned chopped logs and it looked great and was soooooo warm!!