I took a walk in Wiltshire on Saturday. I find one of the best ways to deal with living in London is to get out of London regularly. There's a fast train from Paddington which takes only an hour to get to Pewsey in the heart of some very fine countryside. A pleasant stroll to the nearby village of Wilcott leads to the Workway Drove which runs up onto the hills beyond.  

 This range of chalk grassland -dotted with thousands of Cowslips (Primula veris)- offers sweeping views across the Vale of Pewsey to the edge of Salisbury Plain. Two hours out of central London and the only crowds are a few sheep!

 My route was particularly chosen to go via Gopher Wood.

 I came across this wood on a previous ramble. As you get nearer it becomes apparent that the woodland floor is glowing with a shimmering haze of violet-blue.

This is a Bluebell wood. At this time of year our native Hycinthoides non-scripta flowers here in astonishing profusion.

 But there's more. As you walk through the wood from north to south a few Ramsons (Allium ursinum) appear among the Bluebells.

 Then this sea of Bluebells meets a tide of Ramsons (or vice versa if you're coming in the opposite direction).

 To some extent they intermingle but for the most part Bluebells hold one end of the wood and Ramsons the other. H. non-scripta smells sweetly fragrant and A. ursinum is known as Wild Garlic with good reason! Senses working overtime as the song says. 

 I know of various great Bluebell woods and others that are thick with Ramsons but the combination of the two set among rolling chalk hills is quite something.