A change of seasons...

Over the last few weeks we have been watching as the landscape around us has changed. The heavy farm machinery has arrived and harvested the wheat, rapeseed, barley and linseed in the fields that surround us. Then more tractors have turned over the soil and planted the seeds for next year's crop.

We have picked and eaten the last flourish of courgettes and beans from my mother's vegetable plot and we've watched as impromptu fruit stalls have sprung up at the side of the road and the hedgerows have grown heavy with seasonal gifts. Theo has delighted at walks accompanied by the fresh experience of blackberry picking and tractor spotting.

This afternoon the heat which has clung to the landscape for the last few weeks subsided and a stiff breeze picked up along the water's edge near our house, heralding the arrival of a new weather front. The season is changing. The warm heady days of summer are behind us, but I don't feel sad. Autumn brings its own delights. A change of wardrobe, a change of menu, a change of activities.

I feel the transition between seasons pass much more smoothly now we are in the country. It doesn't creep up on you as it does in towns. The signs are all around you and there is a comforting, affirming rhythm to the year.