After almost two weeks of daily gloom and endless rain, this weekend has been something of a relief with stunning, crisp, misty mornings and beautiful blue skies. The sunset last night was one of winter’s finest. With the landscape now firmly asleep, the stillness of the previous two days is a temporary respite before the next storm gallops over the horizon and the festive season really kicks in. We walked towards Gone With the Wind skies, stood and listened outside the south church door to a fabulous choir and rambled through Platt Woods at twilight to find the Christmas Tree. The only deer we saw were of the LED variety, and we heard echoes of birdsong from next spring.

This is Platt on 13 December 2025.