On Easter Sunday 2017, with the retirement of the Vicar, the Benefice of Lanercost with Walton, Gilsland and Nether Denton entered a period of vacancy which lasted for over a year and a half. During this time, regular services were maintained, albeit with a little shaving of corners here and there. The author, a Reader in the Benefice, was one of a team of people leading services and preaching on a regular basis. The contents of this book provide a record of the vacancy in the form of sermons and reflections. The title is prompted by the phenomenon of `the flowering desert,’ which occurs every ten years or so in the north of Chile, when unusually copious rainfall at the end of winter causes the arid semi-desert terrain to bring forth flowers in profusion. Cover photograph by Paul Bamford