A Heritage Lottery Fund grant of nearly £10,000 has been awarded to the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, to record and raise awareness of the special historic daffodil varieties growing in the landscape.

Project officer Lesley Strong said: ’This ground-breaking project, Heralds of Spring, will look at the historic collection of daffodils within the landscape, focusing initially on the Bere peninsula area.

’For me, there’s no better sight in spring than the hedgebanks and woodlands exploding into a riot of colour, as the daffodils bloom.’

Corinna Woodall, AONB Manager, said: ’The daffodils represent the strong heritage and horticultural legacy of the market gardening industry, hugely important to the sense of place of the Tamar Valley.

’We are really looking forward to working with a number of different organisations and members of the community over the coming months to learn about these spring flowers – survivors of the halcyon days of flower growing in the Valley and to ensure they remain a feature in our landscape for generations to come.’

Some of the £9,900 grant will be used to run identification training sessions, helping to survey, record and monitor daffodil collections on the Bere peninsula. The project will also record the local community’s memories of historic daffodils, and develop online resources about daffodil collections, including downloadable daffodils trails.

If you are interested in getting involved with the Heralds of Spring project, which will start in February, or would like to be kept updated with events, activities and volunteer opportunities, please contact the AONB team on 01822 835030, [email protected]