Tags
Fox Fritillary Meadow, Framsden, fritillaries, In the Artist's Garden, meadow, Post Mill, Ronald Blythe, Saxtead Green, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, wild flowers
I belong to the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, one of the 47 Wildlife Trusts in the UK and recently, while looking through their list of upcoming events I spotted a guided walk round Fox Fritillary Meadow in Framsden. It was recommended that I book a place, not because of limited space but so I could be contacted if there weren’t enough flowers in bloom to make my visit worthwhile. I was very pleased when Alice phoned me shortly afterwards suggesting she stay with us that weekend.
A few days after making the reservation I was happy to find a mention of the meadow in the book I was currently reading; ‘In the Artist’s Garden’ by Ronald Blythe.
He says of fritillaries … ‘Every April and May, from time immemorial, they show themselves in my orchard to remind me of what I have come to think of as their native land – Framsden, in Suffolk.’
He remembers his youthful visits to the meadow …
It is there, at the long pasture in the dell, which is covered with these speckled, bell-shaped, vaguely sinister blooms – the British species of genus Fritillaria liliaceae. It was an hour’s bike-ride from my house, and a proper pilgrimage for a member of the Wild Flower Society. And Mrs Fox, tall, elderly and generous, standing at the gate to welcome us where snake’s heads grew.
For 50 weeks her long meadow was no more than two acres of dank grass, with a lush drainage ditch severing it; but when the fritillaries came, it turned into the Plains of Enna when Persephone set foot in them. There they were – hundreds, thousands of them, some a papery white, but most a muted purple colour with the reptilian markings that gave them their nickname. Nightingales sang over them. There was a cold wind blowing, as well as these mysterious spring flowers.
It would have been a Saturday afternoon when Mrs Fox was at home. There were so many of them that we never knew where to tread, and when we left she would give us little fritillary bouquets. This was the time when country people believed that the more you picked the more they grew – a policy that rioted when it came to bluebells.
Fritillaries were so called by the Romans after their dice box, or shaker, which was one of the few personal belongings that a soldier carried around. This, and a chequer-board. ‘And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cast lots’.
I have a rather beautiful book (sent to all members in 2011 to celebrate the Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s 50th anniversary) which includes a photograph of the meadow and a little about its history. In it I am told that the meadow was sprayed in 1957 with a broad-leaved selective herbicide, as the owner hoped to benefit the fritillaries by killing all the other plants. The fritillaries survived because they are members of the narrow-leaved lily family. Cowslips, cuckooflower and ragged-Robin are slowly returning but compared with other meadows where fritillaries are found this meadow is less diverse. The Trust acquired the meadow in 1977 when the farm was sold, as Queenie Fox the owner wanted to be sure the fritillaries would be safeguarded.
The morning of Saturday the 23rd April was cold and breezy with many heavy hail showers. The Trust hadn’t contacted me so we assumed the open day was going ahead. By lunchtime the showers were dying out and when we set off on the 45 minute journey the sun was shining – but it was still cold!
We found the site easily and joined others eager to see these strange flowers. At first, on entering the meadow through the gate, we didn’t see where the flowers were but a few steps further on and the mass of blooms became obvious to us. We carefully picked our way through the flowers, sometimes crouching down to admire them more fully, but all the while the further we walked the more flowers there were to see. The tributary of the River Deben which Blythe mentions as bisecting the field is still there but sadly, we heard no nightingales.
When we had had our fill of fritillaries we left for home, stopping off at Saxtead Green to admire the Post Mill there.
Thank’s for visiting!
Lavinia Ross said:
This is a beautiful accounting of the fritillary meadow and your day at the Post Mill, Clare. I have bookmarked your reference to Ronald Blythe’s book for my next order of reading pleasure. I am glad they quit spraying the meadow and are allowing it to return to a more natural mix of wildflowers.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you very much Lavinia. I also am glad that the herbicide spraying stopped. I am not sure how many times they sprayed the field – I could only find one instance though there could have been more. This proves how long it takes to re-establish wild flowers when the site is surrounded by arable fields.
I am glad you liked Blythe’s writing. He is well into his 90’s now and doesn’t write as much as he used. The book I quoted from is a published collection of the essays he writes each week for a newspaper. He has produced a number of these books over the years and they are a gentle read.
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quietsolopursuits said:
The fritillaries are beautiful! I’m happy that the previous owner decided to donate the land so that the meadow would be preserved, for it isn’t often that one sees something like this. I really liked the mill as well, despite the cold, it looked like a wonderful day for your outing.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jerry. It was a great outing and the meadow was such a beautiful sight. I am very pleased that the meadow has been preserved. We were a little disappointed that we got to the mill too late to be able to look round it.
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Liz said:
What a wonderful find! I can imagine you will be taking this walk again through the seasons. Your book sounds great too – have made a note of it, thanks. 😀🌺
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Liz! I expect we will return to the meadow again in the future. The book is a gentle read and is a collection of the articles he writes each week for the Church Times.
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susanpoozan said:
What a beautiful place to visit and thanks for those pictures of the mill, I love mills.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Susan. We were disappointed that the mill had just closed (15 minutes early!) when we got there. We will go back again earlier in the day for a proper visit.
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Julie said:
The Wildlife Trusts do a fantastic job and your walk looks beautiful Clare, I can see from the tone of the blue skies how cold your day was. This sounds as if Alice came too, lovely that she was home for the weekend. We go with our branch of the WT on their walks and they have been some of our happiest guided walks, gentle folk and willing to share without being over bearing.Thanks for sharing this. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Julie. Yes, Alice was home for the weekend so all four of us went out together! I too like the WT way of sharing without all the hype we get from the National Trust/English Heritage. I know all the money I send them goes on vital work.
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thehappymeerkat said:
I love the pictures of the mill. You’ve made me want to visit
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you! It is a beautiful mill and one day we will get there on time to go inside!
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Ste J said:
Didn’t Blythe write Akenfield? As ever wondeful photos, love the windmill, so rare thee days and that the Frittaries are safeguarded is a victory for all nature lovers.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thanks Ste. Yes, he wrote Akenfield which is in fact the village of Charsfield. The windmill is a beauty and is in full working order though it doesn’t do any real milling.
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Ste J said:
I went abook hunting the other day and realised I have Akenfield, this pleases Ste. A working mill is a rare treat to come across these days, makes me fancy a bacon sandwich.
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clarepooley33 said:
Mmmm bacon sandwich!
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KerryCan said:
Grrrr . . . this all sounds so fabulous and I cannot view the slideshow! I don’t know why–tried two browsers and nothing works. But you do a very good job of describing the view so I’ll just be satisfied with what i see in my mind’s eye!
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clarepooley33 said:
Oh Kerry I’m so sorry! You may need to re-install Java. My husband can’t view my slideshows on his phone so has to use his laptop and once he has clicked onto the comments he is then able to see the slideshow. Very longwinded way of going about things! Thank-you for your kind comment.
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Jill Weatherholt said:
This post is so beautiful, Clare. The shot of the entrance to the meadow is absolutely stunning. Thanks for taking us along!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you very much Jill!
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
I never see these flowers here so it was good to see them in your post. I don’t know if people don’t know about them or if they don’t like them but they’re rare in this area.
I didn’t know there were white ones too.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Allen. They are very strange looking flowers and I find the purple ones aren’t always easy to see in dappled shade. They might no be to everyone’s taste. The white ones aren’t as plentiful as the purple but very beautiful nevertheless. I have tried growing them in my garden but haven’t been very successful. Red Lily Beetle attack could be one of the reasons.
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
Maybe that’s why I don’t see them. We have the lily beetles too and they’re so bad that I’ve stopped growing lilies.
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clarepooley33 said:
I’m still struggling on growing lilies as I love them and don’t like to be beaten. I’m sure I’ll have to give in eventually.
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
Since a toxic chemical seems to be the only method of control I just let them have the lilies.
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clarepooley33 said:
I avoid the chemical and pick the creatures off by hand and squash them. Not a nice job and if I miss a day they build up really quickly.
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tootlepedal said:
What a meadow. I would have liked to have been on your tour.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you. It was quite breathtaking.
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Lisa G. said:
I may have just accidentally sent a too-brief comment. LOL But how nice for you, to see a whole field of such vaguely sinister blooms as fritillaries. ‘-) Their checkerboard appearance is so unusual. And they are native to your area!
We saw some in Boston last week, at Paul Revere’s house – my co-worker said, “What are those flowers?” , and it happened that I knew! It’s too bad the other flowers got poisoned by the chemicals in the 50’s.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Lisa. The other message you thought you’d sent hasn’t arrived 🙂 Yes, it was a pity the other flowers got poisoned but the owner meant well. She wanted to save the fritillaries by getting rid of the competition. Also at the time Suffolk was covered in wild flowers and she possibly thought that the loss of one field’s worth of flowers wouldn’t matter. I have friends at church who remember how beautiful the flowers were when they were young and there were butterflies everywhere. Even when I first came to live here 28 years ago there were many more flowers and insects than there are now. The sprays the farmers use on the fields are killing off everything.
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greytabby1 said:
What a breathtaking sight to see those gorgeous fritillaries! I loved how Blythe described his memories of visiting – such beautiful writing. I loved the Post Mill too. You really have so many interesting places to visit around you Clare and it looked like a lovely sunny day, even if it was a bit chilly.
– Kate
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Kate. I love Blythe’s writing – he just keeps going despite being well over 90! We are very fortunate to have so many great places to visit near us. We haven’t had much time these past few months for walking and visiting so last weekend’s trip was especially good.
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Draws Shoots and Leaves said:
So glad you showed your last photo, I have been seeing these in Christchurch Park (together with Fritillarys) and did not know what they were. I shall now look them up! Let’s hope it gets warmer soon, it really does not feel like spring yet……
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Sue. I was worried the photo wasn’t clear enough. I’m glad it helped you identify the flowers in Christchurch Park.
I hope we get some better weather too. It’s been colder this spring than most of the winter.
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Cynthia Reyes said:
I was totally engrossed in your story about Fritillaries, and the excerpt that you also included. They really are such unusual flowers. Nature is truly mysterious. Even now, I still stare in surprise or shake my head in wonder.
Thanks for sharing, Clare.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you so much Cynthia. Nature is indeed mysterious and the more I see and learn the more I see proof of a Maker and God.
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Cynthia Reyes said:
Amen.
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lundygirl said:
beautiful flowers. Not sure about the spaying but different attitudes then I guess?
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clarepooley33 said:
Yes, definitely different attitudes then. The owner wanted to get rid of the other flowers so the fritilleries had no competition. Misguided, I think.
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lundygirl said:
I agree with you – hand weeding and thinning out would be my method – or just let nature do it’s thing 🙂
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Philosophical Epiphanies said:
Incredible!
I started blogging this past month, and it is a pleasure that I came across your blog.
It has inspired me to start my next article.
Thank you:)
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clarepooley33 said:
You are very kind – thank-you. I hope your new blog is a success and you continue to enjoy posting.
Clare 🙂
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Karen's Nature Art said:
I’ve never seen so many fritillaries in one place! How beautiful… 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Karen – they were amazing!
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Sartenada said:
How beautiful. I love especially Your windmill photos – gorgeous.
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clarepooley33 said:
How very kind! Thank-you for taking the time to comment.
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wholelottarosie said:
Clare, what a beautiful place, so interesting! I love your wonderful photos, especially the windmill-photos! Even here in Germany there are still windmills that you can go into and look at.
Clare, I wish you a nice day and send sunny spring greetings … 🌺🌺🌺
Rosie
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank you very much, Rosie. I had almost forgotten this visit we made a few years ago. As soon as we are able I will return to the meadow and to the windmill for another visit. I hope you have had a happy Easter weekend. We had warm sunshine on Sunday but snow today!
Clare ❤ ❤
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wholelottarosie said:
thank you, clare, for your good wishes. we had a nice and relaxed easter weekend, but the weather wasn’t sunny and a bit cold. but spring will come to us soon, I’m looking forward to it ❤
Clare, be well ….
Rosie
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Clare Pooley said:
❤
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Phoebe Sullivan said:
Just a comment, I have lived on the site at Saxtead Mill for 52 years, and my husband and his brother (sons of the late S.C. Sullivan) actually own the Mill, not English Heritage. But E.H. are the managers of the Mill and do a good job of looking after it!
Kind regards,
Phoebe Sullivan
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank you very much for letting me know about this. I’m afraid I assumed EH owned the mill just because it was listed in their book. I expect if I’d visited I might have found out all the details. I really must try to visit again some time, once the pandemic has gone away – Saxtead is such a lovely village!
Best wishes, Clare
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Phoebe Sullivan said:
Just to let you know, the Mill will be open (hopefully!) after the 19th July but by appointment only. Such strange times we live in! However, if you want to know stuff about the Mill, my husband knows much about it, it being in the family for four generations. Get in touch if you want to know more.
God bless
Phoebe
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Clare Pooley said:
Thank you very much Phoebe xx
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