Britain set for glorious spring blossom season

Good news stories from the past seven days

Cherry blossom on trees at Nottingham University 
Cherry blossom on trees at Nottingham University 
(Image credit: eye35/Alamy Stock Photo)

Britain has endured a scorching summer followed by an unusually cold winter, but its reward will be a glorious spring blossom season. Plant experts at the Royal Horticultural Society say that this year’s weather conditions have been perfect for bud formation, and that the fruit trees in its various gardens are looking set to bear an abundance of blossom. The cold in February has prevented early flowering, which reduces the risk of the floriferousness being cut short by late frosts. In turn, this should also mean that the trees bear more fruit later in the year.

Letter finally delivered 100 years on

Rowers retrace Shackleton’s Atlantic journey

In 1916, Ernest Shackleton and five of his men boarded a small sailing boat, and sailed 800 miles across the South Atlantic to organise a rescue of the remaining crew of their ship, the Endurance, which had become trapped in Antarctic pack ice. Now, a team of six rowers has retraced part of that journey, to highlight what an achievement it was. Navigating icebergs and capsizing nearly 50 times, they covered 407 miles in six days, breaking eight world records in the process, before being defeated by “cliffs of water” and “horrendous” weather.

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