Despite having a mountain of editing to do, the ongoing fine weather has offered up several small opportunities to go for a wander this week. It hasn’t passed me by that the last couple of months of glorious spring conditions are remarkably similar to those in 2020, when we went into the first lockdown. The parish is looking fantastic; birdlife drowning out any other sounds, two buzzards soaring over the cobnut orchards, above them the Biggin Hill Spitfire purring across the sky, dandelions, bluebells, cherry blossom and horse chestnut flowers; rabbits grazing in the soon-to-be-developed Brickmaker’s Meadow and newbuilds nearing completion on the Old Dairy site.

This is Platt on the last day of April 2025.