Amongst the first spring flowers to appear, creating a blue carpet under the newly emerging tree canopy, bluebells conjure up childhood memories of long walks and the odd bunch taken home ( although it’s now illegal to pick them )

As beautiful as bluebell woods are they do have a feeling of other-worldliness about them and many folktales surround them, mostly associated with fairies. The bluebells are said to ring at midnight to call the fairies to meetings, but if you hear them then you have less than a year to live? and certainly don’t walk through them or you run the risk of being enchanted and spirited away or disturbing the spells that the fairies had hung on them and suffering the consequences!

Children could also be in trouble – if one was to wander through a bluebell wood alone they would be taken by the fairies never to be seen again. If an adult picked a bluebell then they would be taken by a pixie and have to be rescued.

Many of the tales can be explained by the fact that all of the plant is poisonous and is said to induce a dreamless sleep-

so be careful of the next bluebells you encounter, watch out for the fairies!