Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

Give up? I don't blame you. But the scene shown here of Crambe maritima (sea kale) growing on the shingle beach north of Selsey Bill always spells two things to me. One is the blue of the bay which goes on round to Bognor Regis and was the inspiration for the music Sleepy Lagoon by Eric Coates.

He lived nearby at Sidlesham. Another of his famous tunes was Music While You Work which kept the nation's factory workers happy at their lathes making everything from Spitfires to sugar during World War Two. Why he was never honoured for his contributions to the nation is to me a national disgrace.

So far so good. What about Covent Garden? No, Coates' music was never good enough for the hallowed boards trod within for opera bouffes or balletomanes.

Of course you have already thought of Covent Garden market. In 1799, the plant was awarded public notice in a pamphlet written by distinguished Hampshire botanist William Curtis. He described its qualities as a fine table vegetable.

Having the ear of polite society the seaside plant was taken up by them and cart and ship loads made all haste to the famous market in London. Sea kale even became part of the export trade to less fortunate inland European countries, even to America.

So highly regarded did the humble plant become '“ for no particular good reason than for the great god, fashion '“ that roots and stalks were presented to civil servant workers by their bosses as a pat on the back for hours slogged with quill and ink at city desks.

Even though it was forced in country greenhouses, together with exotics like apricots, the beaches of the south and west coasts, particularly the Isle of Man, began to lose their colonies of sea kale. It has never really recovered though for other reasons too, such as the seaside holiday brought by the railways.

Here and there it has flourished again. Dungeness and Pagham are two such places.

In flower sea kale makes a sweet fragrance. Together with Coates' music, this sleepy lagoon with its fragrant scents from the ozone, the sea kale make an unforgettable experience in summer.