A groundbreaking project has secured a large cash boost from the National Lottery for the Tamar Valley’s historic daffodils.

A Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of nearly £10,000 has been awarded to the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), to record and raise awareness of the special historic daffodil varieties growing in the landscape.

Lesley Strong, project officer for the Tamar Valley AONB, said: ‘This groundbreaking project, Heralds of Spring, will look at the historic collection of daffodils within the landscape, focusing initially on the Bere Peninsula area.

‘For me, there’s no better sight in spring than the hedge banks and woodlands exploding into a riot of colour as the daffodils bloom.’

Corinna Woodall, AONB manager, said: ‘The daffodils represent the strong heritage and horticultural legacy of the market gardening industry, hugely important to the sense of place of the Tamar Valley.

‘We are really looking forward to working with a number of different organisations and members of the community over the coming months to learn about these spring flowers — survivors of the halcyon days of flower growing in the valley and to ensure they remain a feature in our landscape for generations to come.’

The grant from HLF has been made possible by National Lottery players. Nerys Watts, head of HLF South West, said: ‘Tamar Valley daffodils deserve more recognition — not only for the beauty they add to the landscape but also for their place in history. As well as the daffodils themselves, this spring is set to being a variety of opportunities for people to celebrate and get involved in the future of their natural heritage.’

Some of the £9,900 grant will be used to run ID training sessions, helping to survey, record and monitor daffodil collections on the Bere Peninsula.

The project will also record the local community’s memories of historic daffodils and develop online resources about daffodil collections, including downloadable daffodil trails.

Over the next few months the AONB will be holding a daffodil conference, exhibitions, visits to local experts, garden workshops and walks and community bulb planting events.

The key objectives of the Heralds of Spring project are to increase awareness of and celebrate the importance of the historic daffodil collection, both within the local community and further afield, record the diversity of the horticultural collection in the landscape, capture local people’s memories about the daffodils, make information resources available in an accessible format as a legacy of the project and to use the data collected to inform best practice for management of this valuable resource in the future.

Anyone interested in getting involved with the Heralds of Spring project, which will start in February, or would like to be kept updated with events, activities and volunteer opportunities, can contact the AONB team on 01822 835030 or email info@tamar valley.org.uk