With the fine weather showing its face there is the incentive to make a first cut of the lawn and tidy up all the winter left-overs.

The pond has been cleared of a large quantity of small-leafed pond weed, the paddock of surplus grass

and the garden raised beds also dug over in the last few weeks.

The daffodils in the middle garden have blossomed in the warmth of the recent sunshine.

The growth on the ones in the lower garden are slower due to the colder and wetter conditions in the paddock.

The camping pod is looking better too, as I have cleaned the decking and cleaned and oiled the entrance porch.

A few less weeds and plant debris cleared from the back bed has made all the difference to this part of the garden.

The sculpture trees have lasted well over the winter and don't need any attention.

The leeks didn't do so well so I'll leave them in a little longer before picking them.

Down in the lower garden, the 'low maintenance' paddock seems to have taken a lot of maintenance after all.

I managed to cut the long grass on the wild flower area and raked and removed the cuttings.

I'm back to bare soil in places so hopefully the flowers will outpace the grass.

Next to the wall, in the cool of the afternoon shadows, the snowdrops are out.

I've left a few areas of water weed so as to protect the new frogs spawn

and give the tadpoles something to eat when they are hatched.

A floating Kermit Frog is standing guard . . . courtesy of a special offer at the garden centre ( £1.35p ).

Beautiful snowdrops.

. . . and some lovely purple crocuses tucked next to the garden's edge.