FOR a couple of weeks in April or early May each year, hordes of visitors flock to the small town of Cricklade, known as the southern gateway to the Cotswolds. They are here not for a festival or a show, but for the chance to see one of Britain's rarest sights-the rich purple haze created by the chequered, nodding blooms of thousands of snake's-head fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris).
Once so plentiful they could be gathered by the armful, these flowers now grow wild on fewer than 30 sites in the UK-and several of them are near here, clustered along the floodplains of the Thames. At Elmlea Meadow, just to the north west of Cricklade, they grow with the rare downy-fruited sedge. White-flowered varieties prevail at Upper Waterhay meadow, a few miles to the west. At a few miles further still, at Clattinger Farm, one of the only lowland farms in Britain known never to have been sprayed with agricultural chemicals, they form part of a meadow considered our finest remaining example of enclosed lowland grassland, bursting with great burnet, meadow saffron, tubular waterdropwort and green-winged orchids.
This story is from the September 21, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 21, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Every picture tells a story
As the National Gallery prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary in May, Carla Passino delves into the fascinating history of 10 of its paintings, from artistic triumphs to ugly ducklings and a clever fake
Flying between extremes
Revisiting the Norfolk of his childhood bright, but not as early as planned on an April morning, John Lewis-Stempel is entranced by the wildlife of the Broads and spots a crane so large it renders his binoculars redundant Illustration by Michael Frith
Satan on six legs
The prowling embodiment of Beelzebub, the Devil's coach horse beetle could absolve you of all your sins, says Ian Morton
Sometimes, less is more
FASHIONS in gardening come and go like those on the catwalk, they simply take a lot longer doing so: sometimes decades.
Dropping down to Derwentwater
The gardens of High Moss, Portinscale, Cumbria The home of Peter and Christine Hughes Non Morris visits a much-loved, Historically fascinating Arts-andCrafts garden, which has been imaginatively brought back to life
A Georgian legacy
Down in Wiltshire and Somerset, two country houses and estates have been well tended by their owners
Processions, proclamations and punishment
The wayside crosses that were once beacons in the British landscape have seldom survived the forces of Nature and iconoclasm. Lucien de Guise follows a trail of destruction
A sparkling collection
Guided by the nose of wine expert Harry Eyres, the COUNTRY LIFE team tasted some of England's finest sparkling wines and found elegance and finesse, with notes of hedgerows and seaside air, to compete with any fizz from across the Channel-surely, this is what we should be drinking now Qu
Hampering after summer
Lifting the lid on a sturdy hamper to find cold ham and ginger beer is a summer joy. Julie Harding meets the wicker weavers who make the dream come true
Life's a picnic
With picnic season fast approaching, it's time to elevate your alfresco feast to Michelin-star levels of deliciousness. Here, Paul Henderson asks a selection of the finest chefs to open up their picnic baskets and share some of their top tips for culinary success