As I come from an area of heavy clay soil the Suffolk free draining sandy soil fascinates me. Half of the land in this corner of East England grows cereal in its light soil but sugar beet is often grown in rotation as it returns organic matter to the soil. I'm rather fond of crop lines following the roll of a landscape so these verdant leaf lines were irresistible. This is also England's driest and sunniest corner so all sorts of vegetables can be found in the fields
along with a few interlopers. Who does not love the intense colour of a field of sunflowers but the surprise of finding
a bright yellow face shining out of a sea of green brings its own pleasure. With the changes of farming practises the unproductive (in farming terms) margins of fields have become an important habitat for
native flowers, grasses and fauna. Larger fields often mean fewer margins but in
the case of this old footpath running down the middle of a field, the margin is also in the middle. It is a way that must have been walked for hundreds of years through many seasons and rotations of crops to and from Orford's 12th century castle, church and the village.
An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at V
here
