I know a bank...

'I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.'  Thus begins one of my favourite Shakespearean monologues, spoken by Oberon in Act 2 of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. I studied the play at school and really loved it. In this case, however, the bank is where snowdrops bloom, deep in the woodland above Fewston Reservoir.  There are the scant remains of a cottage, ruined walls covered with vibrant moss. The snowdrops have perhaps escaped from the confines of its long-forgotten garden, spreading and tumbling down through the trees. It's a very pretty spot and I like to visit at this time each year. Although snowdrops are not 'native' plants of the UK, they grow in our gardens and have naturalised in many places.