We were here, at Dartington Hall 6 weeks ago when Autumn had hardly got started. Today Autumn is in full swing but what an Autumn it has been. Uncharacteristically warm, even today it was 14 degrees rising a bit in sunny patches. Shorter daylight hours and cooler temperatures bring the beautiful shades of Autumn but there are less colours this year. Large amounts of leaves have just fallen. As brown and as unremarkable as sparrows. Now eager to just drop off most are just a uniform acidic yellow
Boston or Virginia Creeper never lets us down, here reflecting a bright blue cloudless sky. Because the weather was good an autumn day of walks was planned and the walking was fabulous but the gorgeous wide stretching views were not as vivid as most years. The Dartington Hall Estate has been occupied by humans for 1000 years and the countryside around probably hasn’t changed too much in all that time.
Not all walks here need to be autumnal, there are also quiet paths of evergreen to be explored.
Mabon is a modern Pagan name for the autumn equinox which occurs in England at 7:19 tomorrow the 22nd of September.
In this image Mabon turns her head slightly to face the colder/crisper days of autumn. Mornings at this time of year can be glorious so I have surrounded her with warm colours, with just the chill of what is to come on her face.
Harvest Festival used to mark this time of year when I was a child. But as a working adult, who worked in a daylight free environment, the passing seasons and their boundaries of solstices and equinoxes passed me by. Life as an artist and dog walker makes me far more tuned in to the seasons moods.
This boundary is the one I dislike the most. Anticipating shorter, colder, darker days. However Autumn itself is a lovely time of year. Mists and mellow fruitfulness and Pumpkins.
Always Pumpkins
My harvesting this year has been almost entirely supermarket based. I love big, fat, juicy figs. Fresh ones, straight from Mediterranean trees are my favourite. After that I have to settle for ones that are labelled ‘large’ in supermarkets or market stalls. Mediterranean figs would laugh in the face of that description of large. Here is my diminutive haul from yesterday.
This photograph popped up on my TimeHop. The image was a harvested, still-life set up, from a Watercolour class I belonged to a while ago.
It reflects a fruitful and dry autumn harvest. Not something I am experiencing this year.
Yesterday was, as usual, a two x two dog walk day also one non-dog walk. The simple maths of that situation was 3 walks=3 outfits. No gentle meandering, gathering fruits and nuts. Just head down and hope for the best. The best in this instance is only having to change one or two garments per walk depending where the rain has penetrated. Harvesting this week will be firmly supermarket based.
As an aside the watercolour, which never sold, is by our front door.
Friday already and a fabulous bouncy bob at high tide.
Nothing starts the day better than a challenging swim in a very well-understood and respected bay.
There is a turn in the weather so on our return I decided to do some autumn chores in the yard. I was energised for action by the splash and bounce of the sea.
Before loading the garage with summer paraphernalia I collected a stored portrait. A friend and I plan to have a good old natter about the experience of having our portraits painted. My two were painted 10 years apart and I have never before viewed them together.
I had no idea they had both chosen almost identical colour palates.
Seeing them together and again is a curious feeling.
If I posed now the hair would be grey, the black garment would be a swimming costume and the deep jewel red would be a towel or robe. Cold water swimming is my superpower, I wish those younger women had done it because it really gets me through the tough days. And those two younger versions of me had some really tough days.
My walking and swimming destination of the day. A day when the summer,which ended just one day ago, has been declared the best on record.
In between my idyllic swim this morning and the afternoon dog walk. Rain fell briefly, in fat, heavy, blobs. Followed by fabulous sunshine. Meteorological Autumn has started in a frisky mood. My raincoat is officially out!
Some of you may notice that 3 blogs have appeared in just over 24 hours. This is because Autumn proper finally arrived in the West Country and with only one planned task of the day we couldn’t give up on a cold crisp day with blue skies, bright sunshine and sharp shadows. We were out for all of the 10 daylight hours that November gave us yesterday.
Our early morning quest was to visit a farm cafe, that we always manage to miss,on our travels into the area known as South Hams. We like to have a small portfolio of places we have visited to take friends to. As I write this I realise we have never even taken our friend whose name is Hams to the South Hams.
Ironic really as his partner’s surname is Curnow the old word for Cornwall and he gets to visit Cornwall every time they visit us. Note to self to resolve this ommision.
Our target cafe of the day was Heron Valley. The orchard and fields overlook Heron Valley. As if to signal the beginning of a perfect visit a Heron rose into the air just in front of us and flew into the trees on the horizon to the right of this picture. Honestly!
Also perfect was the day bed provided for weary travellers. I was a traveller but hardly weary at 10 am. But needs must, for a photo opportunity.
Breakfast was fab. The dogs got chopped up sausage and a roaring fire to gaze at.
The cafe also has a small showroom for homewares made from recycled plastic water bottles. Autumn colours were everywhere.
And sharply defined shapes in the outdoor eating area.
It was at breakfast we decided to extend our day and visit a garden centre.
This week I have taken delivery of two rambling roses. The yard has proved it can grow roses well, it has nurtured an old rose that has been there forever and a cutting that was gifted to me. I bought three rose plants from the London 2012 Olympic sell off . They failed to thrive in our back garden I don’t know if it was me or the clay that killed them off. They were the roses that provided the medal winners bouquets and may just have been exhausted plants. Whatever the reason I have become timid about buying new rose plants until this year.
Going to a garden centre did not alleviate my timidity. Too much information. We retreated to the cafe and I resolved to take advice from the growing advice provided with my two new climbers.
Autumn colour was everywhere. Some of it on my plate.
Some great colour combinations just in the texture of gardening sundries.
Two cafe stops in the first 5 hours of daylight suggest that the next 5 should perhaps be spent doing some exercise. Slapton Sands was our choice of location, just beautiful sea and sand with no tempting cafes. I think the words bracing and beautiful best sum up our beach walk.
There was another plan for our afternoon, more painting of walls at home. By staying out until sunset we quite naturally cancelled this plan.
And to finish, a pretty public washroom. I love a pretty loo.
We did autumnal things yesterday in less-than-ideal autumnal settings. Hugo is restricted to 10 to 15 minute walks for the next 4 weeks, also the light levels and dampness underfoot meant that the colours and crunch of fallen autumn leaves were missing from our park walk. My photographs were disappointing. I have about ten years of autumn photographs stored on my phone so I picked a couple of favourites to brighten this blog. Nobody loves a dull brown leaf.Our walks yesterday were at the pace of a poorly dog and a two year old. We had time to observe the leaf drop at a granular level. We were also hunting for acorns to be stored in a small person’s pocket. The squirrels in this particular park have been very efficient so our small person was disappointed. She turned her attention to Hugo who was attempting his first post surgery poo. I’m sure he would have preferred less scrutiny, but she was only trying to be helpful, and thoughtfully offered him a demo in case he had forgotten his technique.
You can see what I mean about the dullness of yesterday’s leaf fall. The demo must have helped, Hugo was able to be a successful eliminator moments later.
Luckily to counter the brownness of Devonport Park, I can share a picture of beach huts in November near Swanage in Dorset. Autumn colors in a different format
Beach Huts, Knoll Beach, November 2021
Doing our favourite walks at an even slower pace than normal and for much shorter times for the next 4 weeks is going to be a challenge for us all. My 12 year archive of random photographs may be plundered more often, the blogs may get even more repetitive. Let’s see what happens.
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