A Scented Evening.

This evening’s walk took me via the sunken lane called The Hollow, which I’ve mentioned several times on this blog. The verges and embankments in The Hollow are carpeted with wild garlic, and the heavy rain that accompanied this morning’s thunder storms had beaten it down. The result was several minutes walk through a deep ravine swamped with the pungent smell of garlic, until I reached the top where another scent took over.

I’d always thought it was the smell of cow parsley, but further investigation appears to prove me wrong. Cow parsley has no smell, apparently. What I’ve been calling cow parsley all these years is actually hemlock, which is very similar but blooms a little later. My book on wild flowers says it has an ‘unpleasant odour,’ but I disagree. It reminds me of the smell of old fashioned disinfectant, and I rather like it. It also takes me back to those long, carefree hours spent fishing as a kid, which was when I first noticed it. It was part of the experience, and that sort of thing stays with you.

Returning along Bag Lane, my walk was arrested by a smell I recognised without doubt. Honeysuckle – the sweet smell of a lady’s boudoir (or so I assume!) I looked for the source, and there it was – a yellow variety in the hedgerow of the Old Rectory. I sucked in deep lungfulls of it before coming home.

Soon it will be the turn of the meadowsweet to flower, and then the air will smell even sweeter.