It's always a great delight when the first primroses appear - and they often flower till the end of May so keep us cheery until the rhododendrons come out.  Mike and I both have our favourite spots and vie to see who finds the first flower;  he won but his are being eaten by deer this year!  I have a lovely secret hazel grove up the hill which has escaped the attention of the Forestry , and is always carpeted with the flowers -   and I won't tell you where it is. But if you are out for a walk, do brave a few of the paths off the main forestry roads as they can lead to delightful little spots with wonderful vegetation. And nobody minds where you wander.

A lot of the rhoddies have been cut down - we don't know if it's a grand plan to get rid of them (some hope) , or they are all part of this dreaded larch desease.  So all over the hill you see little spirals of smoke where a pile of them are being burned - a fine job in the sunshine but it must be pretty grim in the wind and rain. We are having a rep. down from the Forestry Commission to the next Community Council meeting so we will quiz him. We often feel that as a village we are totally surrounded by Forestry land but we never really know what they are up to. A patch up the road has caused a lot of trouble falling over and blocking the road or bringing down wires, so they have been persuaded to fell it. Makes your route into the village look very different.