This summer tour to the north-east sees Turkey at its most ruggedly beautiful with knife-edged ridges and rocky peaks, everything below swathed in sheets of colour down to lush meadows crammed with showy herbs, a veritable gardener’s paradise with campanula, cornflower, gentian, crane’s-bill and delphinium, whilst late snows have primulas and screes have corydalis. The summer warmth also brings on a fantastic array of butterflies with usually over a hundred species seen. I look forward to the day in the lakes of the far north which are superb for birds with pelicans and raptors galore. Judge for yourselves the floral feast and I’ll try and add more butterflies this year! Chris Gardner
