Little Cotton Rabbits

Autumny things :: out & about

 

 

The woods in Autumn are one of my most favourite places to be. It's such a sensory experience - a wonderful rich smell of damp earth; a rustling sigh as hundreds of leaves part company with the trees at the slightest breeze and a sparkling quality to the light as the low-angled sunlight is shimmered through all of the leaves still clinging fast. There are good things to eat too. I'm not confident enough to gather mushrooms but a handful of sweet chestnuts or blackberries instantly evokes childhood memories of autumn Sunday afternoons spent foraging in the woods with my Mum, Dad and brother. I do love being out in the woods on a bright autumn day.

Sadly though Toby seems to have gone off wood walks at the moment. He's been getting rather agitated when I've shown him the PECs card for the woods and biting his hand a lot (you can see it's badly calloused in the picture below). I did manage to coax him out with custard cream biscuits for one rather short stroll over this half term break but he was keen to get back to the car.

Amy walked with me on wednesday afternoon, both of us with our cameras in hand as she's preparing her coursework for her photography GCSE. We took a lot of pictures because there's lots going on in the autumn woods. We saw mini beasts; snails, butterflies and beetles, tiny fairy-tale porcelain fungus and toadstools and out on an open stretch a muntjac deer was crossing an autumn-sown field and stopping every now and then for a quick nibble of the fresh, green shoots. There was a fair bit of good-natured elbow barging between us over the best position to photograph from and lots of her shots came out better than mine. It was a memorable afternoon out with my lovely girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at home the late afternoon skies have been crossed with migrating flocks of birds. I love watching them heading south to keep ahead of the colder weather and wonder how far they are journeying.

 

 

 

Autumn is in full flow here and I hope to make it out to the woods lots more before the leaves are all on the ground. Hopefully I'll be able to keep tempting Toby to come out with me and he'll re-discover his woodland mojo.

 

Pictures taken at:

Amwell nature reserve, Hollywell Lake with the dragonfly meadows and Amwell walkway, September 26th

Bencroft wood, Hertfordshire, October 26th

Panshanger Park and Osprey lake, October 28th

 

Autumny things :: garden

 

 

 

'Ode to Autumn' by Keats sums up the arrival of Autumn here...

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless, With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells, With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells...

 

It's all mellow fruitfulness here and my gourds have swelled nicely ;)  as you can see above. Although I don't think they are actually as big as the ones I grew last year. Every year I vow to nurture the plants with regular watering and plant feed but my good intentions slip as the weeks fly past. Next year I'll strive to be a better gardener.

The carrots have done quite well though and we've been enjoying them mixed with herbs and shop-bought sweet potatoes, fennel, onions and parsnips and roasted in the oven.

 

 

We've also had some wonderful cooking apples thanks to having generous and kind neighbours with very productive Bramley trees and so we've been enjoying a lot of apple cake, apple crumble and my current favourite 'apple brown betty' made with left-over homemade bread, butter and brown sugar.

The chickens are laying well and being rewarded with regular jaunts in the garden for a spot of free-range foraging.

 

 

 

Though I've not told them of the recent visitor that has been coming regularly to our front garden, as I think they'd be alarmed!

 

 

 

 

Seeing this beautiful fox has delighted me though. Last week I was really lucky to have a great view and took these pictures through my bedroom window just after dawn. I watched him for 20 minutes or so as he rooted round in the ruins of our front garden - we've had a lot of leylandii conifers taken out as they'd got too big and scraggy so the front garden is a complete mess at the moment but it is obviously the perfect playground for a curious and bold fox. I'd dumped the contents of the compost bin out there ready to be dug in and he was enjoying picking through and finding the egg shells. He didn't even budge when a car drove by, just pricked up his ears and bristled with caution, ready to run should the need arise. I hope he sticks around because he's a very handsome chap and is wonderful to watch but I also hope that the run keeps my fluffy ladies safe from becoming his dinner!

That's all my news from the garden but I'll pop back soon, hope you have a good week.

 

 

 

late summer snippets

Our last few weeks of the summer break have been busy and lazy in equal measures. There's been plenty of laying about in PJs days and days full of action and activity...

A trip to Forty Hall with Amy and her boyfriend. A wonderful 1620's built, Jacobean mansion house with amazing plaster-work ceilings and beautiful parkland where we wandered, watched wildlife and picnicked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A walk around Aldworth in Berkshire with Gran and Granddad, watching the buzzards and red kites, listening to the skylarks and finishing in style at the pub.

 

 

And the highlight for Toby was a little hot-tubbing in a gorgeous garden with a beautiful family friend. Thanks to Julia, Josie and Kitty for the lovely afternoon x

 

 

 

 

We're now settling into comfortable term-time routines though it might be a week or so until I'm back to full blogging strength - I'm convalescing at the moment after a rather nasty encounter with staphylococcus which somehow found it's way into the tiniest of cuts on my finger and from there proceeded to party up my whole arm via my lymphatic system. Happily a hefty course of antibiotics seem to be getting the message across that staph is not welcome here and my finger is starting to resemble a finger again rather than an alarming purple sausage. The most frightening thing was the speed with which the red line spread up my arm so please, if you have a little cut which looks like nothing but you then feel a bit unwell with a swollen armpit a few days later, get yourself to the doctor quickly and get it checked out! And chicken keepers - always wear gloves when you clean the food and drink containers, even if you are in a hurry!

Anyway, I hope to be back soon to celebrate my little blogging anniversary, til then keep well xxx

 

snippets from the last week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Gathering up the fallen plums from our tree to make jam and enjoying eating it on toast for breakfast.

• Crocheting little supports for the squash which are getting heavy now.

• Waving to the Dakota plane which flew directly over our house on it's way to the VJ day commemorations in central London and thinking about everything faced by a generation we've come to view as the bravest and most selfless in our history.
• Re-homing hydrangea heads bent by the heavy rain.
• Rainy days wet enough to make a frog frolic and balmy August afternoons perfect for basking butterflies.

 

Summer is passing quickly and we're trying to make the most of the long days. Hope the days are enjoyable with you too.

 

a village adventure

When Amy was younger I used to make summer holiday vouchers for her. These were little tokens that she could cash in throughout the 6 week summer break and they usually included the simplest of activities and treats, things like a shopping trip, a picnic, a visit to the cinema and an annual favourite - berry picking at the local pick your own farm, which we did again, and again.

A few years ago she decided that she'd outgrown the vouchers and she was much more into spending time out with friends than doing things with her mum. But the other day she was at a loose end and so we decided to be nostalgic and head off together for a spot of berry picking.

Unfortunately the season here has already finished (it must have been an early year for strawberries) so instead we bought lots of delicious treats at the lovely farm shop, had a big slab of cake (me) and a full English breakfast (Amy) and then were at a bit of a loss for what to do. We opted for driving the long way home with lots of detours through the pretty local villages and we ended up in Braughing where we decided to park up and go for a wander.

It is the prettiest of English villages, full of thatched cottages, Medieval buildings and a beautiful church - St Mary the Virgin, the oldest parts of which date from the early 13th century.

Come and join us on our walk...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the church there were some lovely people tidying up the porch noticeboard and they invited us in to look around. It is a beautiful ancient building with many different parts spanning the last 800 years - I found the 15th century angel ceiling particularly breathtaking. As we left and were walking through the churchyard we passed the Vicar who stopped for a chat, such a friendly lady. In fact the whole village has a very friendly feel, even the cows in the field at the edge of the village came over to greet us.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for coming with us, I hope you enjoyed the walk :)

And if you ever find yourself in East Hertfordshire with an hour or two to fill then a visit to Braughing is definitely recommended.

See you soon x

 

 

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PS: Thanks so very much for all of the lovely comments about the new room in the previous post. I really appreciate all the compliments and am really enjoying the new space. It still feels a bit like sleeping in a nice hotel - though sadly without the room service!