Country diary: The colourful coltsfoot was once in great demand | Phil Gates

Hexham, Northumberland: It’s back in flower on the riverbank – 80 years ago, mobilised herb-gatherers would have been harvesting this as part of the wartime effortOn our way into town this morning we found coltsfoot blooming on the bank of the River Tyne, and when I noticed a jar of coltsfoot rock in the corner of the Hexham Sweetie Jar’s bow-fronted window, it seemed like an auspicious moment to investigate this herbal confectionery.The sweets, shaped like miniature kerbs