Is there a sight more redolent of spring than a grassy field brimming with the yellow, cream and ivory flowers of daffodils? From mid March the garden at Cotehele on the eastern edge of Cornwall overlooking the River Tamar glows yellow, cream and orange with a fabulous display of over 300 varieties of narcissi, many known since the nineteenth century, some even from the seventeenth such as Narcissus 'Butter and Eggs', a small double flower of buttery yellow with a rich orangey yellow centre. The earlier varieties tend to have a delicacy and elegance lacking in some of the more 'pumped up' modern varieties, though during the garden's daffodil festival both are celebrated as local growers are invited to display their blooms alongside those picked from the garden.
