The theme tune from ‘The Darling Buds of May’
Strawberries in the fields
Bluebells in the woods
Evening sunlight, broken gold
sprinkling through the trees
Chestnuts carrying blossom rich
and thick like Jersey cream
Geese to feed, hens to feed, pigs to feed, kids to feed!
Meadows white with flowers
Orchards in late bloom
Petals like confetti
and a cuckoo’s call at noon
Nightingales that sing all day
its Paradise in every way
“Perfick!” that’s what I say.
Dinners in the shade
A breath of shimmering breeze
Sky as blue as thrushes’s eggs
glimpsing through the trees
Smell of rising oats and barley
Roasted geese with sage and parsley
“Perfick” that’s what I say.
Oh, to be in England
when the green woods laugh in May
A little of what you fancy
does yer good
that’s what I say!
Mad midsummer larks
splashing in a stream
Deckchair lazing, pink champagne
a ‘perfick’ summer’s dream
Off to bed at half past two
Up to see the sun break through
“Perfick” that’s what I say!
January 1991 with thanks to H.E.Bates,