Living in the countryside, it is easy to see why May has traditionally been associated with Mary. This is a month for the countryside over and above the organised space of any garden. Great plumes of umbellifer line hedgerow and field like happy clouds smiling at the sky, lark song drops like honey along a golden thread into the ears of the country rambler and all around are courtyard spaces of the very freshest green. There is no month like May. Joy is pregnant in every shape, everything is new, everything is somehow original.