If you’re finding winter hard to take, I’d recommend you take the red walk of the Garden’s Keep Fit for Free campaign.
At exactly one mile long, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve had a nice little workout. But as a reward, you might even see the first hints of springtime.
The Garden’s conservation volunteer John James has certainly noticed signs of spring. On New Year’s Day, he spotted a few seasonal surprises along the red route, especially along Springwoods. Not only the exceptionally early flowering primroses, periwinkles, snowdrops and barren strawberries but also the tiny female flowers of a hazel.
But his big surprise was a large number of honey bees, and his fabulous photograph of a honey bee covered in what may be mahonia pollen might inspire the amateur photographer in us all.