Celebrate spring at Dymock's daffodil weekend

Similar events at Kempley and Oxenhall have already taken place, allowing visitors the chance to potter down paths that were know to writers in the famous "Dymock Poets" group.

Dymock's floral-themed crowd-pleaser will take place on Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29 from noon to 5pm on both days.

Event spokesperson, Jennifer Thick said: "There will be trading tables in the Parish Hall each day with a variety of goods on sale including jewellery, bric-a-brac, cakes and books.

"At 2.30pm, there will be a guided walk of about one hour, with the opportunity to go further if required, to see the wild daffodils. Each day, the walk will start from the Wintour`s Green outside St Mary`s Church and will be led by experienced walkers."

She added: "Light refreshments will be available including our famous cream scones, and proceeds will be for Dymock Parish Hall funds."

It is sure sign that spring when people flock to Dymock, close to Ledbury, to see daffodils that once moved poets into verse and cheered up patients in London and Birmingham hospitals.

Local people would pick wild daffodils by their thousands and send them by train to the hospitals.

This is why the vanished rail line through Ledbury, now part of the town trail, was called "The Daffodil Line".

These days, of course, with conservation in mind, visitors are encouraged to admire but not to pick wild flowers.

It is illegal to take them from a nature reserve or protected site, unless you have the permission of the site owner or nature reserve warden.

The scenery around Dymock, its daffodils and their annual harvest, would have been well-known to the celebrated Dymock Poets, who lived in the Dymock area, or visited often, prior to the outbreak of the First World War.

Members included Rupert Brooke, Edward Thomas and the American literary giant, Robert Frost, who was to recite a poem at the inauguration of President Kennedy