Hawthorn in Flower

Julia Hathor's new Yellow Rose Cottage is just waiting to be woken up by Spring. The stone mosaic on the chimney breast is a delicately sophisticated detail suggesting the possibilities of an ancient Forest Hunting Lodge.

The exterior with its thatched roof and wood-framed windows has the painterly quality reminiscent of Helen Allingham's English country cottages. Here, you can spend time wandering or sitting by the fountain in the sweet scented garden, enjoying the bees and butterflies taking the nectar from the spikes of lupins, hollyhocks and delphiniums.

Last summer I was excited to spot giant hollyhocks again; apparently resistant to the horrible rust disease. 

Maybe we should not mention the bear?

In the foreground is a flowering white hawthorn and the RL hawthorn is flowering in earnest now. In England, Spring progresses at a walking pace, starting in the far south-west corner, steadily advancing on the North.