Finally a beautiful sunny spring day! Gosh how that lifts the spirits. The final week in February seems to have turned from Winter to Spring, though of course still the odd heavy shower passes by.

The mornings and evenings are getting lighter day by day, and so wonderful to see the village coming back to life following what seems like a long winter hibernation. During my daily early morning walk around the village the birds are singing their hearts out and a starling has already started making her nest in our eves. The snowdrops have been out for a couple of weeks and the daffodils are just about peeking out now – soon yellow splashes of colour will be brightening up the village.

As of recent I have not seen many foxes in the village – I hope they, along with the hedgehogs and badgers, are managing to cope with all the rain and wetness – it makes me wonder what their borrows and dens must be like. Another absence from the normal village life is the Saturday morning football matches on the Rec – this is normally a hive of activity, however just too wet to play for many weeks now.

I have been dog walking up on the sandy hills recently to avoid the wet footpaths in the village – I must say so refreshing to try new routes, and a good opportunity to recollect at what fantastic countryside we have right on our door step – we have discovered a great walk from Holmbury Hill car park down into Holmbury village, past the church then back up again onto the Heath in a large loop. We are so lucky to be able to find dry’ish sandy paths, my small terrier dog certainly thanks me for it!

Events are starting to take place again in the village, including the LEAPs very own Pub Quiz Night at the Bulls Head on Monday 3rd March – I have been to the quizzes previously at the pub and this is a great night out in the village.

Hopefully the next time I write the weather will have finally settled, with milder days and the promise of a long warm summer on the horizon, in the meantime enjoy the early Spring!