Snowdrops are the first bulbs to bloom and show signs of life after the winter months – a reminder that spring is on its way, even in the cold, dark months of the new year. Emma Pritchard suggests three local places to see them
With its milky white petals and gracefully bowing head, the arrival of the snowdrop tells us spring is on its way. Enjoy them at one of the county’s many displays:
Polesden Lacy, Great Bookham
Walk among more than 20 varieties of snowdrop in the Winter Garden, plus the butter yellow flowers of winter aconite and sweet-smelling shrubs such as Christmas box and wintersweet. The impressive Persian ironwood trees should also be in bloom.
Chalk Lane, Epsom
In 1932, Lady Sybil Grant of The Durdans in Chalk Lane picked and sold bunches of snowdrops to raise money for soldiers wounded in the Great War – a tradition continued by the Lest We Forget Association for many years.
lestweforgetassociation.org.uk
Painshill, Cobham
Follow a dedicated snowdrop walk to admire the varieties, galanthus nivalis and galanthus nivalis flore pleno, that flourish around the Mausoleum and by the Cascade. Identify the latter by their honey-scented and double-layered flowers.
