White Valerian

Another stormy day, but after dropping Ben at college, I headed north to the village of Irnham to do some botanical recording. I'd checked the Met Office radar before we set off and estimated that this area was away from the main aggregations of storms. But as I drove out of Stamford into torrential rain, with localised flooding on the roads, I began to wonder whether I was making the right decision.

As it turned out I was fine. The sky was decidedly threatening at times, and there were rather frequent growls of thunder, but there were also some warm spells of sunshine.and only a few drops of rain fell on me, right at the end of my trip. 

The village of Irnham was very pretty, with limestone buildings and a large hall, still privately owned. The churchyard was extensive and very diverse, with a scatter of ancient woodland species . It must be a picture in early spring, with drifts of primroses, but was still rather attractive  - I especially liked the drifts of White Valerian under the church window. My other favourite feature was an old fashioned red telephone box, now filled with books as a mini library (see extra).

I was also amazed to find a huge veteran oak tree on the edge of some parkland associated with the hall. It must have been about 10m in diameter, and is one of the largest veteran trees I've seen in Lincolnshire, outside Grimesthorpe Park.