A few days of sunshine, and boom! The Ashdown Forest in East Sussex has gone from winter drab to an absolute riot of colour. If you were to parachute in blindfolded and rip off the mask, you’d think you'd landed in some sort of tropical paradise—except, of course, you're only 30 miles from London, and there are no piña coladas in sight.

The star of the show? The common gorse. Otherwise known as furze (a word that sounds like a 17th-century insult), this prickly little shrub has erupted across the heathland like molten gold, bathing the landscape in a dazzling yellow glow. And if that’s not enough, it also happens to smell like coconut. undergrowth.

This botanical firework display starts as early as January, but it’s in April and May that gorse really flexes its muscles, transforming the forest into something straight out of a fantasy novel.

So, if you’ve been moaning about winter and are looking for a reason to escape the humdrum of everyday life, take a trip to Ashdown Forest. Just be warned—those gorse bushes may look friendly, but get too close, and you’ll discover they have more spikes than a medieval torture chamber.