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| Autumn in the vineyards |
The autumn colours this year
have been magnificent and although I probably say the same thing every year,
this year I am sure they are better than in previous years and I’m not the only
one to think this. I have a friend in the village who has lived here much longer
than I have and who has shared photo after photo exclaiming this year to be
exceptional.
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| Autumn bike rides |
Getting out on our bikes,
walking the dog or even doing the school run or airport drop off has revealed a
feast of golds, reds and oranges of all shades, often glowing in the sunshine,
that have really lifted my spirits and made me thankful to live where I do.
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| Our walnut tree |
We have many different fruit
trees in our orchard, but rarely have we had much leaf raking to do, until this
year. Looking back, it seems most years we have a mid-September frost, usually
only for one night, but it is enough to kill off the courgette and tomato
plants and cause the cherry and plum tree leaves to drop. Add an autumn breeze
and magically the leaves have gone.
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| Our red cherry tree |
This year, with no early frost, the cherry
trees have shown their colours in a surprising way; the leaves on the yellow
fruiting trees turned a golden yellow, while the red fruiting trees turned from
orange to deep red and have clung to the trees as long as possible. I can’t
believe this is our 13th autumn and I’ve never noticed this colour difference before. Raking
and mowing the fallen leaves was hard work, but good exercise and worth it to
be spending time in our colourful orchard.
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| Frosty morning |
This year our first frost was
last night and wow, what a frost. Scraping the car windscreen at seven o’clock
this morning was finger numbingly cold and I wished I’d been able to find a
pair of gloves, but as most days last week we were able to cycle in shorts and
sunshine, I was woefully unprepared. The car was warning me it was minus 3 and
a low-lying mist surrounded the village. It was a dark drive to get Ed to
school, but the first pinks of the sunrise brightened up my journey home
silhouetting the trees, wind turbines and even the deer in the fields. I don’t
really like cold mornings, but I could forgive the frost this morning, as it
was so very beautiful.
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| Frosted fruit tree leaves |
As I sit here indoors with a cup of coffee and the
sunshine warming me nicely, despite the fact the windows need a good clean, I
can see the remaining autumn leaves falling like rain as they succumb to the
cold. Sadly, I think in a few days our stunning autumn colours will have gone
to be replaced with bare winter trees and hedgerows.
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| Tree-hugging on a dog walk in Melle |
At least I have my photos to
look back on. I have been sharing quite a few on Instagram but here are a few
more. I hope you enjoy them.
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| Sunlight and autumn leaves |
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| Autumn fire |
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| Golden yellow walnut leaves |
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