Friends in the neighbouring village of Bolnhurst organize an annual walk to raise money for The Bedford Hospice and Breast Cancer research.  We met at 10 o’clock in the Old School House and divided into groups according to which walk we wanted to tackle.  Our group of 6 chose a four and a half mile round trip which took us past farms and fields, a reservoir and a stream and the beautiful Bolnhurst church.  As we set off there were cowslips on either side of the path.

The village school closed in 1951 but records show that the village children were given a half day holiday at this time of year to collect cowslips.  They were bought by the pint for winemaking and the money supplemented the meagre wages earned by their fathers, who were mostly farm labourers.

I learnt the name of another common wild flower, Stitchwort and as we walked further on we nearly fell down a deep badger hole.

The footpath followed the stream for some of the way until we crossed a bridge and found ourselves walking alongside a reservoir.  We will soon need that water unless we get some rain.