Maytime flowers, 'Postal Bakes' by Lucy Burton,

The flowers at this time of year are glorious, the field margins, hedge-banks and woods are overflowing with tall stately bluebells,the froth of Queen Anne's lace & vivid pink campion while at ground level there are violets, buttery celandines, sweet smiling 'daisies pied', lady's smock and gorgeous golden buttercups. While the weather is still very changeable this year and quite chilly, when the sun does shine we always say that May is just the best of months in which to see the countryside. This past weekend a party was held here for various family members to celebrate a couple of 'significant' birthdays which actually occurred back in the depths of January, so the event was postponed to when the weather was more conducive to a gathering in the gardens. We had perfect weather and so the guests, many of whom had come down from London, were able to spend the weekend sitting in a lovely garden drinking Pimms. All very civilised. It was good to see people from 'away' and to have conversations that were not predominantly about farming or the neighbours! One of the guests has just had a book published in the last week and I have no hesitation is giving it plug here. It is called 'Postal Bakes' by Lucy Burton and is a compilation of recipes for what are nowadays called 'traybakes' which can be sent to friends and family through the post. Lucy had run a business pre-pandemic baking for events and weddings but of course Covid saw that come to an abrupt halt, so she devised away of baking brownies, cakes & cookies to be sent out in the mail. It proved very successful and as result has now produced her lovely book full of decadent and scrumptious recipes (available from Waterstones, Amazon and other booksellers) and I hope it does well for her. We have had some rain in the past day or so so the grass will growing apace and hopefully the Farmer & Sons will be able to make a start on the silage soon.