In the 1960s, Eppleby was known as “the daffodil village”. It lies to the east of Darlington, and people drove from miles around to see the 100,000 bulbs in bloom.
The bulbs were planted in 1955 by Fred Weeks who, with his wife, Marjorie, ran the village post office.
Below: Eppleby in 1960, with the village green lined by the five-year-old daffodils planted by postmaster Fred Reeks
He bought them from a market garden in Darlington, and spent weeks digging trenches for them to go in. Outside the village pub, he arranged them in letters 3ft high to spell out “Cross Keys”, and outside his own premises, he spelt out “Post Office Eppleby”.
He also planted the bulbs in straight lines along the edges of the various parts of the lengthy village green.
Fred and Marjorie took on the post office in 1947, and Fred expanded the business by selling petrol. When he excavated in front of the shop to create the petrol tank, he discovered an underground stream.
After Fred died in 1983, Marjorie continued with the post office until 1985 when she joined her daughter in Canada.
The post office closed in 2009, but the Cross Keys still serves and the daffodils still thrive in their thick straight lines – can they really be the same bulbs that Fred planted in 1955?
READ MORE: MEET THE LADIES WHO PLANTED THE DAFFODILS OF OVER DINSDALE
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