‘It’s wonderful to be here’: snowdrop festival returns to Devon village

Galanthophiles flock to Buckland Monachorum for 375 varieties of the flower that tells us spring is on the way

In the winter sunshine they glinted and gleamed, bright white flowers dotted around the lawns and wooded slopes of a glorious garden on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon.

And within minutes of opening its doors, the Garden House was busy with hordes of galanthophiles - snowdrop lovers - taking in the sight of a beloved flower that at this time of year provides a vivid reminder that warmer, cheerier seasons are ahead.