Bibury in blossom this April

The blossom comes out in a particular order here, and once you have watched it a few springs running you start to look forward to each stage. The blackthorn in the hedges along the lanes goes first, a fine white froth that arrives before most of the leaves. Then, through April, the gardens of the cottages on the way to Arlington Row begin to show, and by the end of the month the whole approach to the village has softened.

April is the month Bibury starts to feel busy again, and there is a good reason for that. The village is genuinely lovely just now: the river full, the verges thick with daffodils giving way to the first cow parsley, and the trees coming into leaf along the Coln. It rewards an early start more than ever.

Where the blossom shows first

If you want the blossom at its best, walk up towards St Mary’s Church and along the lane that runs behind the row. The older garden trees there tend to come out ahead of the rest, sheltered a little from the wind, and the churchyard itself has a quiet, settled beauty in spring. From there you can drop back down to the river and follow it along the valley.

The footbridge by the trout farm is my usual starting point. Cross it early, before the coaches arrive, and the village is still. The light in April is clean and bright, the kind that makes the honey stone glow, and it is at its best in the first hour or two of the day. By mid-morning at a weekend you will be sharing the lane, so there is a real case for being out before nine and back for a late breakfast.

April is also when the river is at its liveliest. The Coln runs full and clear, the trout are easy to spot in the shallows by the bridge, and the first ducklings usually appear on the water towards the end of the month, which children love. The meadows are greening fast, and where the daffodils are going over the cow parsley is coming through to take their place along the verges. It is a fortnight of genuine change, and no two mornings look quite the same.

Honest about the weather

I will not pretend April is reliable. It is the month of showers, and the valley catches them. A morning can start clear and turn to rain by lunch, then clear again by tea. My advice is to take the weather as it comes rather than waiting for a perfect day, because a perfect day in April is a rare and lucky thing. Pack a coat, accept that the blossom looks rather good wet, and have somewhere warm in mind to retreat to.

When the rain does come in, The Swan is a good place to sit it out with a long lunch, and the village seen through a rain-streaked window has its own appeal. The showers rarely last, and the gardens look all the better for them afterwards. If you would rather keep moving, the lanes up out of the valley drain better than the riverside path, so on a showery day they are the safer choice underfoot, with the blackthorn thick in the hedges either side of you.

A small tip from years of watching April here: keep your plans loose. The guests who enjoy it most are the ones who decide what to do at breakfast, looking at the sky, rather than the ones with a fixed itinerary. Hold the long walk for the bright morning, save the indoor lunch for the wet afternoon, and let the day arrange itself around the weather.

Easter falls in April and the village is at its prettiest, so if you are coming over the holiday it is worth being out early and choosing your walks around the brighter spells. The blossom does not last long, a fortnight or so at full, but for those two weeks the walk into Bibury is as good as it gets all year. Come for the mornings, bring a coat for the afternoons, and let the showers do their work on the gardens.