TREE QUEST 3 -MUCH MARCLE & THE DAFFODIL WAY

Perhaps I imagined it. Does anyone else remember a song called,'Much Marcle in the Marsh' sung by Flanders and Swann from the 1950s/60s? They were a duo who wrote satirical songs to well known light operatic tunes. The reason I'm asking is that this week our friends Diana and Ian took us to the place to see the Much Markle Yew in the yard of St Bartholomew's Church in Herefordshire. 

     As we entered the churchyard through a wide Yew gate we saw a small pink sign on the grass,'Mole Catching in Progress,' and ruminated on games of tag going on beneath our feet while Church Wardens prepared their gas,clubs,or traps. 

     According to Thomas Pakenham in his book,'Meetings with Remarkable Trees, 'The Yew at Much Marcle is one of about 50 gargantuan yews found in British churchyards,that is, yews of more than 30 feet in circumference.' It is presumed to be 1508 years old, so planted around the year 500. Measurements taken over a decade or so suggest it is still growing. It predates the Christian church built there in the 13th Century.

       'Once its branches might have carried Pagan trophies,or the severed heads of sacrificial victims. Christianity would have purged it of this. Until the Reformation its dark green leaves would have provided 'palms' for Palm Sunday processions...Life was the meaning of the tree that seemed itself  immortal. Death was the meaning of the poisonous,scarlet berries and the tough pink wood,as springy as steel,used for spears,arrows, bows.'

       Encircling the Yew in a horseshoe are the headstones of the dead, like a gothic audience witnessing the contemporary goings on inside the tree. The hollow interior has a skin of gargoyles and ghouls hanging from its walls. Life is represented by a birds nest and a bench fitted for parishioners' shelter. With just enough room for two it's a perfect hideout for lovers who don't mind spirit voyeurs. 

      As we left the churchyard I could hear a Flanders and Swann song floating somewhere in the chilly breeze.

     After a bit of a food quest we moved on to stroll through woods in the 'Daffodil Way' 

     Wild daffodils, or Narcissus pseudonarcissus, were once a common sight in England, but intensive agricultural practices and use of chemicals has led to them becoming less common. Around the villages of Dymock, Kempley and Oxenhall close to the Gloucestershire/South Herefordshire border, wild daffodils once carpeted the meadows, orchards and woods in great profusion.  
      Because of climate change and the exceptionally cold weather this Spring, they were late and we were lucky enough to see huge swathes mixed with fat white wood anemonies. Wild garlic ready to burst open if only it warms up.

    Our day out bringing us life after death.