Wildflower Weekend

I’m just in the process of illustrating a honey jar label, so when I saw signs popping up on the local verges advertising a ‘Wildflower Meadow and Beehive Open Weekend’, I had the perfect excuse to drop my trowel and abscond from weeding the parsnips. I dragged a friend, willingly, away from her decorating and we set off ‘in the course of duty’.

Nestled in complete seclusion in the Suffolk countryside, I knew we were in for a treat the moment we were greeted by a jolly, rotund man with an precision engineered handlebar moustache. He handed us a beautifully illustrated guide along with a coloured tiddly-wink to exchange for a cup of tea in the barn. Attention to detail... on all counts!

copyright www.wildflowermeadow.org

We followed the snaking path through 4 acres of sheer tranquility.

Each exquisite flower head twinkling in the warm sun

And tucked up in the corner of the field three beehives were the perfect inspiration I needed for my honey label. 

It wasn't just the bees that were hard at work, the BBC were there too, busy as bees themselves, filming a documentary with broadcaster and amateur bee enthusiast Martha Kearney. Look out for her four part series "The Joy of Honey" in 2014.

Having traded in our tiddly-wink.....

.....we were quite spoilt for choice for idyllic spots to sip our tea.

Of course no garden visit is complete without a good sniff around the plant stall. After all, a plant purchased along with a happy memory always gives twice the pleasure! 

So for me it was a delicate white knapweed and a the cutely named 'fox and cubs' which I'll pop into the long grass in our orchard. Now all I need is a beehive!