I wonder if most people are like I used to be, too busy with my life to notice some of the most exotic and beautiful plants we have around us.

Well, when you get a copy of Britain's Orchids - A Field Guide to the orchids of Great Britain and Ireland, by Sean Cole and Mike Waller, you will have no excuse for missing these beauties.

In fact there are early pages in this book all about finding orchids and the habitats where they live. Most people know where orchids grow and we have particularly fantastic nature reserves which specialise in orchids - Brockholes, Wigan Flashes and the hidden-away Haskayne Cutting in West Lancashire.

You should have orchids local to you - as the authors report - "Although many people will travel to 'traditional' orchid sites to enjoy these spectacular flowers, some may explore in detail in an attempt to discover orchids."

The detail you require is in this book, and the detailed illustrations and photographs are a joy.

I am a big fan of the bee orchid, having seen them on Cadishead Moss and at Brockholes. I love the fact that they look like bees, thus attracting buzzers into their flower for pollination purposes. The book describes them as "truly exotic-looking but appearing in less than exotic places", which is pretty much correct.

This is a book that I will read and cherish over the coming years, expanding my education about these wondrous flowers.