DECK THE HILLS WITH BOUGHS OF HOLLY
From deep within a mass of worm-riddled timber – apparently shipwrecked in squally showers – on a hillside not far from the Shropshire village of Snailbeach, a small spiky green leaf somehow sprouts. There is life in this old holly yet.
Holly enriches our folklore. Some claim it was a goblin and lightning deterrent, and others that it was allowed to grow tall and prickly to hinder witches who got about the countryside by walking on hedges. Reverence of its evergreen properties has endured. After all, it was – according to tradition – the holly king who wrested rule from the oak king to reign over the
