Richard Williamson's Country Life Column: September 8, 2005

Like Sussex bluebell woods, Lakeland daffodils, the miles of sea lavender in East Anglia. Thames water meadows purple with fritillaries, on the orchids of the South Downs, the colour in the moors is part of our collective consciousness.

Iping has the backdrop of the Downs from Bepton to Harting, looking like the foothills of the northern mountains. There is a sweet smell of heather honey in the air, and the murmur of bees. As soon as we left the car park we were into the best areas, now well managed '“ that is to say, cleared of birch and pine, which quickly destroy the heath. Within a few minutes we were surrounded by ling (Calluna vulgaris), bell heather (Erica cinerea) and western gorse (Ulex gallii) growing together like a Persian carpet with multiplicity of patterns. We were quickly aware not only of honey bees by the thousand but many other small wild wasps and bees frantically living out their brief and sometimes solitary lives while the honey lasted.

The path of white sand wound this way and that through these wild and sumptuous gardens of colour. Every few yards we found small holes about five millimetres wide drilled into the ground where digger wasps had their nests.

Full column in West Sussex Gazette, September 8