Cyclamen

This morning our house sitters (my sister and her husband ) left us to visit his parents in the Midlands. 
When  I checked out the garden and, of course, the sleepy  tortoise,  I found a few clumps of Cyclamen hederifolium in flower, growing among the ivy. 
It's been  rather dull most of the day except when we were caught in a fierce thunderstorm this afternoon. 
Although we had a lot of sorting out and  laundry to do,  we feel the  holiday was well worth it.