As spring colours wash through our countryside the monochrome of winter gives way to golden daffodils, frothy branches of blossom, palest yellow primroses, and then wild bluebells shimmering through woodland glades.

In Japan cherry blossom season is welcomed with picnics, parties and festivals. As peak blossom arrives crowds gather to marvel at trees painted vibrant pink by millions of tiny flowers.

Celebrating spring blossom is becoming popular here too. In Norfolk, once a county of orchards, we can share the joy of fruit trees frothing with flowers, plus daffodil walks, bluebell woods, and lanes edged with banks of primroses.

1. Norfolk’s daffodil mile

In Honing, near North Walsham, a mile-long avenue of daffodils stretches from the village church towards Crostwright. The host of golden daffodils were first planted by a farmer with spare daffodil bulbs and the display has become so glorious that it is the centrepiece of an annual fundraising day. Honing Daffodil Day is on Sunday March 20, 11am-4pm. Stroll along the daffodil avenue, or take a ride along the lane behind a vintage tractor. Light refreshments and parking at Honing Village Hall. Proceeds to Honing and Crostwright churches.

2. Charity gold

Daffodils tumble down to the banks of the River Waveney in the gardens of the Old Coach House, The Street, Brockish, near Diss.

The gardens, including two acres of woodland and a dazzling display of daffodils and other spring flowers, are open on Sunday March 20 and Monday March 21 in aid of charities including the East Anglian Air Ambulance, prostate cancer charities, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, St Elizabeth Hospice and PACT animal sanctuary. 11am-4pm. Refreshments and stalls. Adults £3, children free.

3. Gilded gardens

Tens of thousands of daffodils are lighting up the National Trust gardens and parkland at Blickling Hall, near Aylsham and Felbrigg Hall, near Cromer.

There is also a chance to enjoy beautiful spring flowers and home-baked cakes, and help charities too, as impressive Norfolk gardens open to support the National Garden Scheme (NGS) nursing and health charities. Enjoy daffodils, narcissi, tulips and a bluebell walk in the gardens of Wretham Lodge, East Wretham, near Thetford, when it opens for the NGS on Sunday and Monday April 17 and 18. The Old Rectory, Catfield, near Yarmouth, will have displays of narcissi and tulips, plus orchard trees in blossom, when it opens for the NGS on April 24.

4. Daffodils on show

If you like your daffodils perfect call in at the East of England Daffodil Championship, held as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Horticultural Society’s spring show and plant fair at The Costessey Centre, Longwater Lane, Costessey, near Norwich, on April 10, 10am-4pm. Free admission.

5. Bluebell woods

In April ancient woodland glades across Norfolk shimmer with drifts of the flowers, which grow best in dappled shade. See massed displays in the Great Wood at Blickling, near Aylsham, in Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserves including Foxley Wood, near Reepham, and Lower Wood at Ashwellthorpe, near Wymondham. Find bluebells beneath the trees of Lynford Arboretum in south Norfolk and in the city at Norwich's historic Rosary Cemetery.

In the Old Wood at Pretty Corner, near Sheringham, the trees climb to one of the highest points in Norfolk and on a bright April day the deep blue of the flowers match the blue of sky and sea.

6. Primroses

Primroses thrive in damp shady areas including ancient hedgerows. See them through March and April, in hedges and on grassy banks along quiet paths and lanes and in rural churchyards across Norfolk. Sheringham Park, most famous for its rhododendrons, is vibrant with primroses, and then camellias, magnolias, cherry blossom, and bluebells as spring unfurls.

7. Blossom

Hedgerows across the county are fluffy with bright white blackthorn blossom. (It’s worth remembering some favourites spots into the summer when the same bushes produce sloes, of sloe gin fame.) Fruit trees are beginning to bud too and historic orchards across the county have been joined by modern planting, such as at the community walks around North Burlingham, near Acle, where trees and bulbs thrive. At Horsey windpump a new hedge was planted with blossom in mind. And in April, in country churchyards and city streets, pink cherry blossom will flare into action for Norfolk’s very own Japanese-style sakura festival.