I love Autumn

I took Alfie out for his evening walk today on my own and we ended up walking for two hours which is about double the normal amount.  It was such a lovely evening, when we first began it was clear blue skies and yet strangely it began raining as we walked through our first field.  There was a fantastic clear rainbow across the sky and I began to think to myself how many rainbows I've seen lately.  It struck me that I'd seen a whole load more than normal and was beginning to think 'how strange', but then I realised that of course I had - I'm out walking the dog in the fresh air so much more than ever before that if there is a rainbow to be seen - we'll see it.  Think of how many rainbows I was missing beforehand?!

I just happened to have my camera in my bag with me tonight and so I began to take pictures of the fungi in the field and then went onto the orchards and there were so many beautiful things to see that I remembered - I LOVE AUTUMN!  We got married in October and I love the colours and the clear sunny skies and chilly cold evenings.  The berries and the mushrooms and natures beautifu bounty being delivered, ready for the winter.

It's amazing the shapes and sizes of the mushrooms and toadstools growing in the fields, they look like tiny fairy and goblin houses and I imagine tiny magic communities living in and around them.

And the trees in the orchards are laden with ripe apples, plums and pears, all fattened by the rain and turned red by the sun.

Alfie loves going through the orchards.  You can smell the apples as soon as you walk in, there's a lovely sweet aroma from all the fallers which are gently fermenting on the floor and Alfie quite likes to eat the soft, gooey ones.  He is thankfully more distracted by the creatures who rustle and live under the trees and spends the whole time running from tree to tree and trying to go underneath into the undergrowth.  Occasionally a rabbit runs across the path and all hell breaks loose then - especially if you weren't ready for him!!

The berries are all out, rose-hips, hawthorn, elderberry and even the holly berries are red and blooming.  They say that if there are lots of berries on the trees, it'll be a cold Winter and there appear to be plenty at the moment so we'd better start wrapping up.  The holly berries are reminding me that it'll soon be Christmas!

As we walk through the orchards you can see the North Downs in the distance and the setting sun lights up the Oast houses.  It's peaceful and calming. 

We have all this beautiful nature and countryside on our doorstep and we've not always appreciated it or enjoyed it to its full potential. These days we find ourselves admiring mist rising in the dusk when the temperature falls, hailstones falling through the leaves of the trees and rainbows, magical and bright as we slush through muddy puddles. And we have one young man to thank for that.

Our boy