The Colours of Autumn

We've just had a beautiful stretch of weather here in England with clear blue skies and warm temperatures. It's the hottest start to October that we've had in many many years according to the Met Office.

Whatever the facts we've been enjoying this extra spurt of summer. Yesterday was the last of the warm spell, and as my first day of freedom from the council I decided to enjoy it. My husband had taken the day off work so we took a picnic to Sheffield Park and then wandered around the landscaped gardens to admire the amazing colours of the trees at this time of year.

Our garden at home is full of Michaelmas daisies and rosehips, and yesterday the ivy was graced with red admiral butterflies and numerous honey bees. My husband spend a long time taking pictures - below are a couple of my favourites.

Our fruit and veg have come to their seasonal end, except the squashes which are a little confused by the heat and have begun to grow. We hope to harvest them before the first frost!

Photos my own.

Blue Remembered Hills

Just over a week ago we came back from a holiday in Shropshire to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We ended up there sort of by mistake. We knew we wanted to go away for our first anniversary, and we both had fond memories of childhood holidays in Dorset so thought we would go there. However, by the time we came round to booking a cottage most places weren't available for the week we wanted. A friend of ours had just come back from a holiday in the Forest of Dean and highly recommended it, so we took our search to Herefordshire. Little did we realise that the website we chose was for cottages in Herefordshire and surrounding counties, and it was about a week before we went away that we realised we would actually be staying in Shropshire. It didn't matter, it was still somewhere new for us to adventure and a chance to escape from everything.

We didn't know what to expect but when we arrived we were very pleased with our choice. Shropshire is an incredibly beautiful county. It is so lush and green, very hilly, and very rural. Our cottage was on the edge of a farm in a tiny hamlet. We couldn't have picked a more tranquil location.

Eager to explore (because that's how we rest) we very quickly discovered there was a lot to see in Shropshire - an abundance of National Trust and English Heritage properties around, plenty of walks, and pretty towns. We strayed into the neighbouring county of Worcestershire most days as we were close to the border, also very lovely and green. We went on many adventures, including cycling in the Wyre Forest which proved just how unfit we both are and that we need to invest in bikes to work on that! We explored some historical sites - Stokesay Castle, Ludlow Castle, Wroxeter Roman City, Witley Court, Kinver Edge Rock Houses, the Severn Valley Steam Railway, Worcester Cathedral, and the famous Iron Bridge and Tar Tunnel (there's lots to see up at Ironbridge near Telford, but we were only there for a flying visit!). We ate out at some lovely pubs or we stayed in and cooked for each other, winding down with puzzle books and games of Carcassonne. We ate cream teas or cake most days. We went exploring on random drives and walks. We did even stray into Herefordshire for one day - to see Berrington Hall, which has excellent Below Stairs tours - learning about the lives of the servants is so much more interesting than visiting just another posh stately home - highly recommend this one for something a bit different by the National Trust! All in all it was a relaxing holiday, surrounded every way we looked by beautiful countryside. A chance to be away from it all, exploring somewhere new, just the two of us.

Into my heart an air that kills

From yon far county blows:

What are those blue remembered hills,

What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,

I see it shining plain,

The happy highways where I went

And cannot come again.

A E Housman, from A Shropshire Lad

Photos my own.