“Some old-fashioned hedgerow cold cures have stood the test of time.” Adele suggests some natural remedies for this winter,

In the dark winter months, when cold and flu came a-calling, our forebears turned to traditional herbal remedies for their ailments. Some are quite bizarre but others, says Adele Nozedar, can still do the world of good

I t’s that time of year again. The excitement of Christmas is gone. Inspiration is as low as the bank balance. The promise of the shiny New Year seems tarnished already, and we’re half-heartedly trying to knuckle down to work. Outside it’s dank, dark and damply miserable. To top it all, you feel you’ve got a cold coming on... or could it be flu? And what’s the difference, anyway? And what are you going to do about it?

First, let’s define the difference between these two ailments. The ‘common cold’ is a viral infection affecting the top part of the respiratory tract, including the nasal cavities and the mouth. Influenza or flu, on the other hand, is caused by a different collection of viruses. The symptoms – achiness, headaches, a blocked nose, difficulty breathing, a raised temperature – develop much more rapidly than those of a cold, are more severe, and last longer. I’m sure that lots of us have described our colds as flu, but the difference is marked.

On the whole, there’s no one single foolproof cure for colds and/or flu, since both are caused by lots of different viruses that mutate rapidly. By the time we’ve developed a cure for a particular strain, that strain has moved on.

We’re lucky to have a vast range of over-thecounter medicines available to alleviate our symptoms, but what was it like for our ancestors? Did they discover anything that we might use today in place of pharmaceuticals, or was it all old wives’ tales and superstition?

The good news is that the old fashioned remedies that have stood the test of time have done so because they do contain ingredients that will help alleviate the symptoms of the dreaded lurgy. These days we’re lucky enough to be able to pinpoint the efficacy of some of these old remedies. And those country cures are all around you, right at your fingertips...