April

The sap is rising. Crisp young carrots will soon be buzzing with it, new spinach leaves lazily unfurling with it and glorious English asparagus quite explicitly erecting itself with it. By May, winter should be left quite behind. In the meantime, some of the best April news is sea trout and new-season lamb.

On the negative side, the month sometimes keeps a last serious cold patch and occasionally a severe few inches of snow up its sleeve. Fruit is mostly imported at this opposite end of the year from harvest festivals.