Heavenly HYACINTHS

Pausing at Bottisham Lock on the River Cam in late spring, an unexpected vista shines out from the dull, damp Fenland landscape. A small field is filled with a rainbow of 100,000 hyacinths, their scent almost discernible on a westerly wind. This vision is the work of Alan Shipp, a retired farmer who holds the world’s largest collection of rare hyacinths, having amassed 260 different varieties since 1993. ‘I had this small farm that wasn’t large enough to be commercially viable, and by chance I stumbled upon hyacinths,’ he explains.

According to Greek legend, the name of this gorgeous flower immortalises Hyacinthus, a youth that Apollo accidentally killed while practising discus-throwing and, where his blood fell, these beautiful flowers sprung up. Hence even today, the flower is associated with remembrance, and the intoxicating fragrance is ever captured in an essential oil used in perfumes.

Legends apart, oriental hyacinths, , are bulbous