Living in the village of Welford at the heart of the Lambourn Valley, you cannot escape the annual anticipation of the first snowdrops. As early as Christmas, and some years not until mid-January, they raise their brave little heads. Reliable and hardy little flowers who take no notice of world affairs but pop up their tiny pure white heads to remind us that Spring is coming with a naivety that only nature can offer.

Galanthus is the Greek name for snowdrop, derived from ‘gala’ -milk; ‘anthos’ – flower. Through the ages they have held their own in the ever-growing world of horticulture. Stroll around the beech wood at Welford Park taking in the spectacular carpet and breathing the delicate scent you know this natural phenomenon is not only very special but a sacred gift. You can’t fail to gaze in wonderment and have your spirits lifted by this extraordinary sight.

Snowdrops are not considered native to the UK but from mainland Europe. Linnaeus describes Galanthus Nivalis in his Species Plantorium in 1735. However, one cannot escape the fact that the best snowdrop woodland displays in the UK can be found at Anglesey Abbey, Bennington Lordship, Hodsock Priory, Walsingham Abbey and the largest of all here at Welford Park. One thing all these historic places have in common is that they are Norman monastic sites. Norman monks used snowdrops to decorate their churches for Candlemas, planted them in graveyards to sanctify the soul of the departed and as a medicinal remedy.

There are several hundred species of snowdrops and G. Nivalis is considered the most common. Many of the cultivars have derived from specimens brought home from the Crimea and Turkey during the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. There are many horticulturists who specialise in dissecting every millimetre of the inner and outer segments, ovary, pedicel, spathe, scape, leaf, sheath, tunic, root and scaling the bulbs and they are known as ‘Galanthophiles’.

Personally, it is the foliage of plants that interests me more. I love looking for the many shades of greens, greys and hues of blue and the height of stems and Galanthus offers me a wonderful selection but also G. Plicatus with its folded leaf, G. Elweseii with its wide tulip like leaf and G. Nivalis with the grey green pointed narrow leaves.

Here at Welford Park, we have approximately 5 acres of beech woods with a carpet of G. Nivalis and a collection of 73 cultivars around the gardens, which is always growing.