By: Blonde Two
I was feeling a bit down in the dumps yesterday so, morning chores done (not sure I actually did any) it was back up to Dartmoor for a quick rest cure.
I have never seen Dartmoor look quite like it does at the moment. It smells right, the air is the right shade of hazy and the breeze is hair ruffling but somebody has been out with a paintbrush and painted everything yellow. A rather shocking yellow to be honest, the sort of colour of which your granny would never have approved. Think submarine, banana boat and buttercup, allow these bright shades to sink into your psyche and then abandon them – Dartmoor obviously did!
Dartmoor has gone several steps further across the shade chart! Not satisfied with any old shade of yellow, she has gone for one which, if it was an emulsion paint, could only be called “Hi-Vis”. Of course, if you or I donned a Hi-Vis jacket, we would look washed out, baggy and irritatingly bossy (I should know, I have and did!) Dartmoor, being Dartmoor has carried off her fashion statement with complete aplomb. She has subtly blended a wash of straw coloured moor grass into her “Hi-Vis” and given it bright purple heather highlights. Combine that with granite grey tor accessories and you have a winner that could grace any catwalk.
You would imagine that this “Hi-Vis” approach to moorland decoration might have jarred on the nerves of a Blonde who was seeking peace and comfort, but as usual, Dartmoor had got it just right and I found the gorse cheering. That was, I did until I tried, gaiterless, to get into the middle of it to take some pictures!
This picture is amazing; I’m sure I can smell the beautiful gorse just by looking at it!
You can almost certainly guess where it is 🙂
a friend of mine’s Grandmother, deep country lass, was always reciting the old saw ‘when’t gorse be in bloom, kissin’s in season’.
I never saw her in action, but ever since have noted there is gorse in bloom somewhere the year round. Perhaps ‘highland zone’ depopulation only started seriously when the uplands were cleared for cattle, who cannot nibble the new gorse shoots like sheep and goats!
Down Dartmoor way, we love Blondes love the gorse (unless trying to pick our way through it at night), now you have found out why!!