Country diary: my heart dances with the daffodils

Letah Wood, Northumberland: Sunlight slants through the beeches and the hillside is fresh and green with wild garlicAt the entrance to Letah Wood, a loud-voice wren trills from an ivy perch and silver birches reach up into a blue sky. Believed to be the last wild daffodil wood in Northumberland, it is owned and managed by the Woodland Trust. The Letah Burn cuts a meandering course down its length with a footpath criss-crossing it by stony fords.There are remnants of coppicing and a honeysuckle vine winds round a hazel pole like a helter-skelter at a fair. As the vine grows and tightens it will mould and shape the hazel, something that walking-stick makers would patiently encourage for the natural barley sugar twists. Hazel, holly and yew are the understorey trees beneath soaring beeches and magnificent Douglas firs. Continue reading...