Plants

The first time I became aware of chalk downland as a distinct environment for plants, I was four, lying on my stomach on the grass in Arundel park. I found a tiny tree, which bore on each of its little branches, beautiful white flowers with yellow and purple centres. It was eyebright, still my favourite chalk downland flower.

There's something special about chalk downs, with their rich variety of plants. When I read Heidi, I imagined her running down a mountain with all those flowers, delicate blue harebells and scabious, nodding yellow rattle, glowing golden rockrose, purple hardheads, purple violets and selfheal, blue milkwort and gentian, pink stars of centaury, tall blue spikes of viper's bugloss, and so many more.