Bella’s dividing snowdrops and bringing Spring into the kitchen.

This weekend, even though the wind had a cruel, bitter chill to it, I was determined to get outside amongst the snowdrops. The short flowering period of this delicately beautiful (once cultivated) now wild flower, at such a bleak time of year, makes it incredibly special. Snowdrops seem to really thrive here at Walnuts Farm, and with careful division of the bulbs and re-planting over the last few years, we have managed to populate large swathes of the front meadow and woodland area alongside the track with these uplifting little plants.  However, rather like unruly children, snowdrops don’t always grow where you want them, and on Saturday I saw that many had up sticks and migrated to fill the damp ditches along our boundary, probably spread by seed.

I decided to view this act of freewill as an opportunity to bring some of this outdoor beauty indoors and create a natural tablescape of snowdrops and moss for the kitchen. I never thought it was possible to bring snowdrops into the warmth of the home but I was inspired to see it in action at Daylesford farm during a quick visit ‘up country’ during half term. My plan is to re-plant the snowdrop bulbs outside once the little flowers have faded, and populate even more of our ‘wild’ areas with the flowers.