Valerie O’Connor goes picking the early bounty of spring and puts the garlicky plants to good use

Getting out for a long walk in the woods last Sunday was a real treat, says Valerie O’Connor.

I called various pals who were mostly busy cleaning or sleeping off late nights but I did find one who’s always up for a bit of a countryside ramble and did a crazy thing and called to her house, (unannounced!) to see if she was up for a ramble in the forest.

Coincidentally, she was in the middle of trying to get her own brood to go for a stroll and was happy I’d turned up.