Summer solstice gifts

salty skin, red rising suns and pearlescent midnight skies

Jun 20, 2025

Last night I sat on the garden’s edge and watched the sun set over the forest. The sky was washed with pale rose pinks and soft blues. Clouds shapeshifted above the tree line, an undulating kaleidoscope. Birds, just a shadow in the distance, were finding their way home for the night. The woodland behind me was loud with their choruses and the barking call of Muntjac deer.

These late, balmy sunsets are where the darkness of winter is forgiven. Watching the day tuck itself in at almost 10pm feels so far away from the short hours of December.

As we arrive at the Summer Solstice, time feels honeyed and full. There is a hazy sweetness to everything. The regal blooming of peonies, the brightness of the morning, the ephemeral smell of summer — peaches, strawberries, salty skin and mint.

Summer is a time to rest and rejoice. If winter gives us dreams and magic, summer offers pleasure and abundance.

Beauty is proud. Flowers sing in the garden. Sunsets are iridescent in the haze. Plump bees dance across the sky. Music, carried by warm winds, finds its way over rivers.

Here in England, the Summer Solstice has long been a time for celebration, a torch carried through many centuries. Buried under modernity, but never forgotten. There are festivals, folk songs and dancing, and quiet rituals at home, each honouring this long day, the hours that eclipse the night.

No matter how busy we’ve become, or how far our folk roots may feel, we can still toast honey wine to the sun and soak up the wonder of these months to come.

For me, that is the bounty of the land, meadowsweet infusions, fresh river water, warm skin, cool linens, strawberry ice cream, floral white teas and midnight swims under pearlescent stars.

All seasons deserve celebration. Though the Summer Solstice calls us to dance, feast, gather and love like no other. To be present for all that is ripening and all that is wild within, seeing ourselves golden and full, like the rising red sun.

Summer’s beauty comes not only from its cornucopia, but from the bittersweet understanding that as the sun sets on solstice night, the days roll softly toward harvest, into autumn’s wise hands. This knowledge makes it all the more important to cherish its every hour.

However you choose to celebrate this weekend, I wish you all the pleasure, radiance and joy. And, if you are swept up in the fullness of the season (like I am), I hope you find a reminder here to pause and rest under the sun.

A song for the road…