Saturday, we went into Aldeburgh to pay our respects to the monochrome North Sea, and to enjoy loosing ourselves in the wonderland that is the Aldburgh Bookshop. After a nice meal in the Oyster Bar down at Snape, Mum and Dad went to a Britten opera and Emma and I headed back to the barn to look after Barney, watch Merlin, and play a game of Scrabble with the travel set that we bought for our holiday in Iceland and then never had the time to play. Marvellous!

Sunday was the polar opposite of an autumnal day with cloudless blue skies, a crispness to the air, and a flat calm to the North Sea. We all went down to Dunwich Heath/Minsmere for a walk amongst leaves and funghi, seeing deer prints and otter prints, and a Dartford Warbler flitting about amongst the gorse and the heather.

A snack lunch later in the old coastguard cottages and then we headed down to the beach towards the hides – saw a Common Seal lounging about in the water – before heading into the reserve to see: two waxwings, a kingfisher (also exciting), heron, wigeon, curlew, shell ducks, shovellers, gold crests, teal, wren, lapwings, and a marsh harrier…

Emma’s been working this weekend and so by necessity we’ve not been able to go anywhere. Yesterday was a day of hibernation and hiding from the wild and wet weather as it stormed across the country. Luckily (although am I weird for also saying, disapointedly) we missed much of the worst of the weather. Still it gave me ample opportunity to get the house clean and tidy. I cooked a nice, easy meal last night – a Wanchai Ferry recipe kit that we got free and un-asked for with our Ocado order a few week’s back – and we snuggled in with Strictly Come Dancing and Merlin for company.

This morning, Emma had to go into work today, so I headed out in the garden whilst it was still calm and bright and sunny and dismantled the runner beans (a job that has been prowling on the edge of my mind for some time). There were some huge, fat beans still on the plants which I took indoors and podded. I now have a tub full of beans to add to salads and caseroles. Should be good.

Next up, I halfed and de-seeded the pumpkin and whacked it in the oven for later soup making. Having laid the pumpkin seeds out to dry I headed back outside to clean out the chickens and the bunnies. Emma got home and I finished off making the pumpkin soup for lunch. Then this afternoon we finally did our glass recycling and I dug out delicious and fragrant soil from compost bin #1 and dug it into the veg patch for the little wormies to feast on. Now my muscles feel pleasantly achey, the kind of achey that reaffirms how productive you’ve been.

Emma’s been called out to drip a dog now, and I’m getting the roast on. I bought a tub of goose fat at the butchers along with the pheasant the neck of lamb (for next week’s winter-warming hot pot) and ordered the Christmas turkey, and so I greased up the bird with goose fat like they did in the olden days. Lovely on the old hands is goose fat.

Next stop, south Oxfordshire to help celebrate Sian and Mark’s wedding!

Even on fairly gloomy day, it is atmospherically beautiful amongst autumnal leaves, and the walled garden is sumptuous with a proper, working vegetable garden included. The free apples at the main entrance were a bonus too, and scrumptious!

Mind you, I should really have fetched out my gloves. My hands were frozen by the time I arrived at work!