Snow-white blooms and sparkles at the slipway

St Dominick, Cornwall The Tamar is choppy, brown, but a brief spell of sunlight makes a dazzling mirror on the water

White hydrangeas and the camellia named Cornish snow, bloom side by side brightening the midwinter gloom, while the fragrance of daphne pervades the damp mild air. Late apples, like the yellow Longkeeper, red Tommy Knight, and Reinette de Brucbrucks, cling to leafless branches while shoals of fallen fruit are picked over by blackbirds and pheasants. As yet there is no competition from visiting redwings.

Burrowing moles heave up sprouting snowdrop bulbs and, on steep slopes of former commercial plots, rows of daffodil leaves poke through the rough grass.

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