Читать книгу Great Book of Spoon Carving Patterns - Joseph Fullman - Страница 31

The Southwest may receive no more sunshine than the rest of the country, but its Gulf Stream-aided climate nurtures a singular profusion of plants. Much of the flora is here as a direct result of – or has at the very least been obliged to adapt to – human activity. The farmlands of Devon and Cornwall in particular are crisscrossed by a network of ancient hedgerows, some dating back to before the Norman invasion, made of sturdy native shrubs such as hazel, hawthorn and elder, which provide habitats for an abundance of birds and insects. Though a good deal of the region’s woodland and forest has been cleared to service the needs of housing and industry, patches remain on Dartmoor, Exmoor and Bodmin Moor, including some areas of Atlantic (or upland) oakwood. These were managed areas of trees carefully coppiced for charcoal and tanbark (to produce tannin for processing leather) between 1600 and 1800. In more recent times many of these areas have been replaced with plantations of fast-growing conifers and other commercial woods, or have been taken over by invasive shrubs such as rhododendrons. Those few surviving patches hold a great biodiversity, their thick canopies filled with birdlife and providing cover for a mulchy mass of ferns, fungi, mosses, liverworts and lichens. There’s a particularly good example on Dartmoor, where the 777-acre Yarner Wood, growing around the site of a former copper mine, offers a dense selection of native trees. Among others, these include pine, oak, holly, ash, beech and larch.

Each area boasts its own particular tapestry of colours as flowering plants come into bloom. The flower-filled meadows of North Devon (known here as culm grassland) are awash with purples (foxgloves, devil’s bit scabious, meadow thistle), pinks (campion), whites (cow parsley), blues (common speedwell) and oranges (hawkweed). The moors sprout great blankets of yellow (gorse) and purple (heather), while in summer coastal areas provide harbour to delicate, cowering clusters of bright mauve sea lavender, yellow kidney vetch, purple marsh orchids and pink wild thyme. Look out in particular, both on the coast and in local menus, for samphire, which has yellow flowers and spicy, aromatic leaves.

The nurturing effects of the Gulf Stream have perhaps been put to their best use in the Southwest’s various gardens, many of which boast bright, subtropical blooms that seem almost out of place under England’s grey, cloud-covered skies. Good examples include Trebah (see here), Heligan (see here) and Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly (see here).