I started the week in Kirkcudbright, visiting my parents, which meant a chance to enjoy swathes of daffodils along the roadsides and seeing the first cows and calves that were not hardy Belted Galloways out in the fields along the old Military road by Hadrian’s wall. It also gave us the opportunity to visit the lovely Threave Gardens; though it turned out we were a bit early for most of the rhododendrons and daffodils, those in flower were alive with bees. Though the gardens are not at their most colourful at this time of year, the vistas seem larger and you appreciate the naturalistic slate and iron sculptures which dot the garden a little more – I love the oversize poppy seed heads.

At home there are more signs of spring in the garden too – the willow tree is greening up beautifully, though a little behind my favourite one on the banks of the River Wear just above the weir in Durham.  The Marsh marigolds in the pond are flowering, as are the miniature scarlet Tulips in the front garden – every year I say I must plant some more! I was delighted to find that the Snake’s-head fritillarys I transplanted to the edge of the pond last spring are also thriving.

On Friday I enjoyed a walk along the north side of the River Tees just East of Barnard Castle with a friend. I remember seeing masses of Wood anemones there a couple of years ago and was not disappointed but we also spotted a Bluebell in bud, my first Comma butterflies of the year and some tiny brown cup fungi growing on rotting wood.  Comma butterflies, Polygonia c-album, are one of the few species of butterfly whose numbers are increasing in the UK and they are, in fact, spreading north as our climate warms.  They overwinter as hibernating adults in hollow trees or log piles, so this one was not the freshest of colours, but still a delightful harbinger of things to some.  It will be worth looking out for their caterpillars on stinging nettles soon.

My culinary highlight this week may well have been the improvised dish I made for my parents, with roast king oyster mushrooms, gnocchi and a generous bunch of Wild garlic leaves, foraged along the riverside path to town.

In the allotment I’ve finally made a proper start, planting garlic and broad beans, plus a windowsill full of seeds. We’ve been eating last year’s leeks, a handful of purple sprouting broccoli and a little delicious forced rhubarb.

In the garden I’ve been splitting some of the snowdrops in the back garden and transplanting them into the front ‘lawn’ and planting out a couple of small geraniums I bought at Threave gardens.

I’ve been reading, or rather listening to as I’ve been driving, Old God’s Time, by Sebastian Barry – a beautiful and complex novel about a retired Irish Garda whose past comes back to haunt him. How can I not love a book which features a solitary ‘cellist playing Bach’s ‘cello suites?