Lurking in churchyards

Sunshine and sharp wind accompanied me on an afternoon of botanising, which mostly involved lurking in churchyards and peering at stone walls in search of rusty-back ferns. 

I started at Morton (mostly because of a navigational error) and then wound my way along the back roads to Edenham, where the originally Saxon churches still serves the villages of the Grimsthorpe Estate.

The connection with the local gentry accounts for the rather overpowering collection of grandiose tombs at the back of the church, and much of the churchyard was rather sombre in aspect, being shaded by large evergreen trees of cedar and holm oak, the sheets of snowdrops providing a welcome touch of reflected light.

Although my time in churchyards is mostly spent looking for plants, which often thrive in fragments of ancient grassland, and benefit from a lack of tidiness, I also appreciate the architectural details, particularly of doors and windows. I rather liked this carefully crafted handle, which looked perfect against the aged oak door.