“Oak before ash, in for a splash; ash before oak, in for a soak” Thus runs the old country saying, suggesting that if the ash…
Tag: folklore
The flowering of the blackthorn tree is commonly associated, in folklore, with a “blackthorn winter” – a sudden unseasonal spell of cold and wet or…
I hope H E Bates will forgive me for purloining the title of his bucolic novel for my current piece. Hawthorn or may (Crataegus monogyna)…
There’s a popular belief (in rural areas, at least – I doubt town or city dwellers notice it!) that the blooming of the blackthorn in…
This year, the oak leaves were out well before the ash. According to the saw: “Oak before ash, in for a splash – ash before…