A mellow morning

The abandoned hen house




The beautiful apples starting to form



The cobwebs lay like flotsam on the dewy grass


Each morning our first task of the day is to turn out the mares and foals from the stables and these days the air is mellow and sweet in that certain way that thrills the senses, with the nights cobwebs caught still on the grass spangled with dew in the first rays of the sun.

My hen house lays guiltily abandoned abandoned in the little orchard of vintage varieties of West Country apples along the route, a project to revisit when time permits but now as the season draws on, the apples at least have started to form on the little fruit trees and I always steal an admiring glance at the morning shadows as we lead the mares and foals on the way to start their day in the fields and we return to the house to cook breakfast for our guests.