OH dear, " I thought to myself, "this isn't going to be too much fun". I was crossing the moors on the A66 on my way over to the Lake District.

It was misty, cold and wet. It was the kind of persistent drizzle that works its way right down into your bones and chills you to the very core, the type that only a long hot soak in the bath would ever thaw out again. I wouldn't be anywhere near a bath for the next few days though.

I was camping.

"Don't worry, " my companion chirped up (my despondent face must have given away my thoughts), "once we get over the top of these hills it will be sunshine all the way. Trust me".

She sounded so positive that I didn't have the heart to tell her that I just couldn't see how it could ever get any better.

True to form though, at the highest point of the crossing the mist rose like a stage curtain and the peaks of the mountains in the distance blinked in a bath of golden sunshine. I felt warmer already.

In fact, whilst the damp chilly weather continued all week over here, we had five days of almost uninterrupted sunshine.

It was shorts and t-shirts all the way. I even had to nip into Keswick to buy a pair of walking sandals because my feet were getting too hot and sweaty in my boots (and, but for my quick cricket - honed reactions, would have been knocked down by a speeding car, and on my birthday too).

As well as the usual tramp up to the top of any hill that looked slightly more than mildly strenuous, we did a lovely woodland walk up to see the nesting ospreys. It always amazes me how suddenly the outside world can melt away as soon as you enter a woodland environment. You become more aware of sounds, and your sense of smell becomes far more acute.

The bluebells were in full display.

These were the true wild ones native to England woodlands (Scillia festalis), not the Scottish hare-bells, nor the larger, fleshier Spanish ones (Scillia hispanica) which dominate domestic gardens, and are beginning to escape and naturalise in the countryside.

The blue haze gave off a luminescence under the emerging woodland leaf canopy, patches being spotlighted by shafts of sunlight bursting through gladed areas. As the trees changed from the lighter airier birch and oak to the denser cover of beech and sycamore, the bluebells gradually gave way to wild garlic.

This always reminds me of my childhood, coming back each evening from playing in the woods across the road from my parents' house with my clothes reeking of garlic. It is a smell that I associate with happy memories.

The leaves of the wild garlic, or ramsons, are quite edible. The young shoots can be added raw to salads, or you can add the chopped up leaves to dishes as you would normal garlic, spring onion or leek.

My mother always makes a bright green soup that signals the start of spring. The two main constituents are wild garlic and nettles. Both are high in vitamin C and rich in minerals, especially iron (the toxin in the nettle is destroyed by cooking). Not only is it a tasty soup, it costs nothing to make and is extremely good for you.

Other flowers also added to the colour palette within the woods. The primroses forming their pale lemon yellow carpets and the red campion with its pinkmagenta petals. Just starting to come through were the small frothy white heads of the pig-nut and, further towards the woodland edge the very similar flower of the cow parsley.

A good woodland walk always calms the spirit. A hectic working day can be put to rest by a stroll through a tranquil tree covered lane. It is not something that you can build in your own garden, even though the trends are turning towards recreating natural scenes.

We will never truly capture the woodland theme in its entirety in our own back yard, with its multi-sensory capacity and its sense of excitement and wonderment, because if we do, it has ceased to be wild.

READERS QUESTION

MRS Alderson from near Stokesley has a border which is shaded by a hedge and would like some suggestions for a few herbaceous plants that would survive there.

THE first thing that I would say is remember to leave at least one to two feet of spare border between the hedge and the plants. This lets you get in and trim the hedge and also keeps the plants out of the dry soil that all hedges create by sucking up all the moisture and nutrients.

Most hellebores do well in shade, and there are so many good varieties around now, not just the white lentern rose. There are some with deep maroon flowers, silver ones and ones with lime green heads. The also keep good form and foliage throughout the year.

Any of the hardy geraniums will put on a good show and will flower up to three times in the year.

Foxgloves are another shade lover.

There are perennial versions around now, that last more than the two years that the common pink one does. Try some of the apricot or dusky yellow shades for something different.

POST SCRIPT

Brigid presents 'Ask about gardening' on Sundays from 12 to 2pm on BBC Radio Cleveland. She also works for Nature's World at Ladgate Lane, Acklam, Middlesbrough during the week.

Questions (which may be used in the column) can be sent to brigidpress@hotmail. com.

Published: 15/05/2004