Colour Notes: Gorse Bud Yellow
When I walk the chalk ridges above our downland village and down through the Weald at this time of year, I always - every time, without fail - feel full of optimism. I can’t help but smile when I see the luminous buds of the gorse bush, slowly opening into flower as spring progresses. It brightens grey days, and if the sun’s out, it’s a blaze of beauty.
It’s this optimism I’ve tried to capture with 'Gorse Bud' - one of our seven signature palette colours, all inspired by the nature that surrounds us. Drawn not from trends, but from place, light, and memories.
It reminds us that colour, like light, is not fixed - it changes with the weather, the season, the hour. On a sunlit afternoon, Gorse Bud feels almost golden. On a cloudy morning, it leans into ochre - earthy and warm.
It’s a colour that rewards time.
That in-between moment - a yellow just beginning to assert itself against the thorn. Tighter, more concentrated than the flower. This was the shade we came home with.
It does not so much flower as smoulder - brightly, perpetually, stubbornly - across the shoulders of the South Downs. The buds arrive before spring has properly announced herself - a sign it’s on its way, ahead of other indicators. Golden. Brazen. Scented faintly of coconut, if the sun’s been kind through the shorter winter days.
Bright, but grounded. A kind of quiet joy.
The gorse bush (Ulex europaeus) is no newcomer. It has studded the British landscape since before names were written down, thriving in poor soils and on exposed hillsides. Hardy and fire-loving, it was once considered both menace and gift.
In the South Downs, it was a vital part of life. Cut for fuel, used as boundary hedging, even fed to livestock when winter hay ran out - its spiny branches crushed under weight to soften them. Gorse was common-land currency, gathered in bundles by those who knew how to handle its bite.
I love the old English tradition: “When gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of fashion” - a rural proverb acknowledging its nearly year-round flowering. A plant of persistence, of continuity. Of affection that doesn’t so much need a season.
To me, Gorse Bud represents a quieter kind of optimism. Not the easy joy of spring in full swing, but the promise of better things to come. It’s a colour that belongs to early mornings and east-facing slopes, to hedgerows and commons throughout the South Downs. A year-round colour - easy, and importantly for the home, a joy to live with.