Painswick's carpet of snodrops, plus a Royal baby, our quiz of the day and more make it in to today's Dawn Chorus.
5 million snowdrops, sitting on a wall
Well, not a wall, more just on the ground. Still impressive though: this is the magnificent Painswick Rococo Garden in the Cotswolds (pictured above), where five million snowdrops pop up each year in what is one of the most breathtaking displays in the UK.
Perhaps most amazing of all, while most snowdrop gardens in Britain are carefully tended and cultivated, Painswick’s display is entirely natural. ‘No one knows how the snowdrops arrived in the garden in such large numbers,’ they tell us. ‘It remains a mystery to this day.’
The garden is open to visitors — and this coming weekend is expected to see them at their peak. Take a look at rococogarden.org.uk for more details.
Quiz of the Day
1) Astraphobia is a fear of what?
2) The usher to the House of Lords is known as what?
3) Who was the Roman goddess of the hearth?
4) How many husbands does Scarlett O’Hara have in Gone With the Wind?
5) Which London department store opened in Piccadilly in 1707?
Answers down below
Coming to a Frontispiece near you in 2046
Huge congratulations to Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, on the birth of their daughter. We’ve already pencilled in Athena Mapelli Mozzi for Country Life’s Frontispiece page some time around Valentine’s Day 2046.
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The food of love is… well, food
Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir in Oxfordshire — or ‘Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, a Belmond Hotel’ as they like to call it these days — is running a series of Valentine’s-themed events in a couple of weeks’ time. Options include a chocolate-making masterclass in the Cookery School — £210 per person, and you get to take home your own box of truffles — to a candlelit bathroom set-up, complete with Champagne, to ‘make Valentine’s Day unforgettable’.
Frankly I doubt any visitor would forget dinner and a night’s stay at what is a truly charmed slice of Oxfordshire, but nice to see that they’re making an extra effort in any case. And to make it extra memorable, as the PR department’s picture makes it clear, you can enjoy breakfast in the garden wearing nothing but a duvet. That’s a brave call for mid-February, but when love burns strong enough I suppoese it provides all the warmth you need.
That’s it — we’re back on Friday
Quiz answers
1) Thunder and lightning
2) Black Rod
3) Vesta
4) Three
5) Fortnum & Mason
