This month…
Our previous home was a barn conversion. We moved there in 2010 and were the first ‘humans’ to live in it. Before that, it had been the domain of the farm animals and a family of swallows, who took up residence every spring. We first encountered these industrious little birds one day in late April, shortly after we moved in. They announced their arrival by swooping in through the front door and diving between the rafters, blissfully unaware that we’d taken over their summer camp.
Once we’d established that we couldn’t share the same living space, they moved, without fuss, to the adjacent cart barn. And in no time at all, they had built a solid, mud-based nest, which they returned to every year to bring up their young. After nine years, we moved from our beloved barn (long story) and I found it almost more difficult to leave the birds and the nest (still intact) than the house itself! Reading Stephen Moss’s piece about swallows (p70) reminded me how eagerly we’d await these little heralds of spring, the first glimpse filling us with optimism for the warmer days ahead.
In that same spirit, there’s plenty in this issue to lift your mood. I can highly recommend tuning into BBC Radio DJ Stuart Maconie (p194) on the joys of ‘ambling along the canal from the station to the studio’. As president of the Ramblers, Stuart says that walking is part of the ‘regular rhythm of his life’ and his descriptions of hiking in the Lake District – with a flask of sweet coffee and sausage rolls in his rucksack – have certainly inspired me to make the most of the lighter evenings.
There are plenty more features to put a spring in your step, from giant hot cross buns (p62) to Easter makes (p78), bluebell woods (p11) to bumblebees (p88). And if you’re looking for an instant moodboost, I urge you to step into Sally Bowie’s ravishing garden on p140. With an abundance of tulips and spring flowers in bloom, it’s a reminder that brighter times are definitely around the corner!