Frost

The snow has gone but heavy frost is still spreading a covering of white over the garden. Some pedant on the radio has said that it's not yet officially winter. Tell that to the drip on the end of my nose! So many pots of plants that would normally be safe in my greenhouse are outside in this beautiful-looking, but cruel weather. I fear for their health. I had hoped that the new greenhouse would have been finished by now and that my precious 'Maricel Neil' tea rose and other old favourites would be tucked away from the rigours of snow and ice. 

The lavender shrubs are transformed.

Wrap up well, I'm going to take you on a walk, alongside the lake, into the woods and back across the fields.

I photographed this spot just a few weeks ago when it was full of vibrant colour. Now only the oak and beech leaves offer something other than black and white.

Not a fisherman, nor anyone else, for that matter, to be seen.

Himself tests the ice.

The leaves that came down with the first blast of cold are still trapped in drifts on the ice.

This very cold weather has come so early in the year that in the woods the ground is still carpeted with quite freshly coloured autumn leaves. Normally they have been reduced to a soggy mass by autumn rain long before the frost and snow arrives.

A shooting stand, for culling deer, at the edge of the wood.

This corner of the field was planted with sweet corn for the pheasants. Now that the crop is finished there is a green drum that releases seed for the birds.

My frozen fingers

in all the whitened landscape

fumble to record.

Garage Report.                   

                                                     

The garage doors are in place but all the building work has now stopped because of the extreme weather.

Janet of Gardener's Cottage thinks that it is looking like fairyland around here. At the weekend when the temperature lifted for a while a great arc of water spewed out of a burst pipe, now exposed to the elements in my no-longer greenhouse. Luckily, our friendly local plumber was prepared to come out on his day off and sort out the trouble. I'm sure that such things never happen in fairyland!