Village Life and a Touch of Autumn

Published on by milliethom

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A couple of days ago I was chatting with fellow blogger, Lynn – from Lynz Real Cooking – about the lovely colours of Fall. Lynn suggested I do another post about the village in which I live and show what the autumn lanes looked like. The lady on the horse, above, is a neighbour and retired teacher, like me. There are so many people with horses in this village, and the clatter of hooves is a common sound. (Nothing to do with autumn – just part of village life.)

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As you can see, much of the landscape around our village is holding on well to its summer green. The trees are turning gold, some species more so than others, as to be expected. But the good old oaks, always the last to give way, are still pretty green, whereas most of the ash trees are bright yellow.  Deep amber, horse-chestnut leaves also litter the ground, with shiny conkers amongst them:

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Most of the berries that filled the hedgerows a month ago are now becoming wizened; only the hawthorne berries (haws) still bright red. Haws can usually be seen well into winter, as the birds don’t seem to like them much, and only eat them when all the juicier fruits have been devoured.

The photos below show a mix of lanes, hedgerows and trees, in varying states of ‘browning’. We have little of the blazing red colours common to parts of North America, so our colours tend to be a mix of golds, ambers and browns, with the deeper red of the odd copper beech here and there. We do have the occasional red maple, and they make a wonderfully bright splash aamongst the rest. Many of the fields are now sprouting spring wheat or barley, ready to grow with all haste once the winter’s done:

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Here are a few more photos from my walk down the lanes immediately round our house…

And here’s a selection of views from around the village. We have a mix of houses – old and new – some dating back a few hundred years. The church of Saint Helena dates back to the 11th century and old telephone box is definitely past its sell-by date, but there’s still a useable phone in there. I’ve never seen anyone using it, so whether it actually works is anyone’s guess. The dovecote is a rare old thing, too, built in the 13th century (last picture). The amusing name of Washtub Lane has two possible origins, both related to a farmhouse once located there. The name could refer to the lines of washing hanging at the farm, or to the big tubs standing there,  for washing leather and tannery.

Well, that’s it until winter comes along and I can take some frosty pictures, if not snowy ones.  Next Saturday the clocks go back in the U.K. and the dark nights will descend earlier and earlier. Now that is a really depressing thought. 😦

92 thoughts on “Village Life and a Touch of Autumn”

  1. I love your village-life images. It gives the feel of the place, so peaceful. Beautiful shots for watercolours too. How are you Millie? Have missed you while I was away in my village…(lots happening).

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    1. I’ve missed you, too, Joycelin. It seems ages since we last talked. Things are plodding along, as always, here. I do little on my blog other than travel/history posts from holidays and days out. I rarely have time for flash fiction now. You’ll have to let me know how things went back home. I’m dying to know! I hope things are back to normal after the funeral, and you’ve forgiven Nathan for ignoring your blog. You’re heading towards summer now, and we’re on our way back to winter. It’s midnight here now, too, and I’m just going off to bed. I imagine it’s morning for you. It’s funny, all the different time zones when we’re ‘blogging’. Talk again tomorrow. 😀

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  4. Now you’re making me quite homesick, Millie! Wonderful, typically English views of village life. I want to live at no. 1, Washtub Lane! 😊

    Happy Autumn to you & yours!

    Heddy x

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    1. Sorry for that, Heddy (love your new name!). I didn’t mean to make you homesick, although I imagine the pics could make you feel a little nostalgic, but I know you’re very happy in Switzerland (as most people would be, I think). I live almost opposite Washtub Lane and the former ‘square’ was filled in with houses many years ago. It always fascinates me how places got their name. I imagine autumn in Switzerland is really beautiful and you’re lapping it all up. Very best wishes and Happy Autumn to you all, too. ❤
      I'll be hopping over to catch up with some of your posts later on. We were away again most of last week. I seem to have spent the last six month playing 'catch up'. 🙂

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      1. Well I’m not really that happy here sadly, (a long story!) although it IS very pretty! I will try to take some photos for you sometime! I may put it on my other blog ‘Swiss Rolling’ – ‘cos that is dedicated to my life in, and experiences of Switzerland. I will send you a link when I get finished.

        It won’t be for a while though, because I have stupidly put my back out!

        Hope all is well with you, and you have settled back into Village Life after your Maltese hols!! 😍 xx

        P.S. Sorry for the essay – I suppose I am feeling rather sorry for myself. It is so frustrating when you can only hobble around! I am too impatient. 😕 x

      2. I’m sorry to hear you’re not too happy out there, but sometimes things don’t work out as they should. I didn’t know you had another blog. I’ll happily follow you on that. I’ll just wait until you send me the link to your post. I’d love to see your photos! I bet they’re awesome.
        I have one last post on Malta to do, although I could easily do another two after that.But I think people will be very bored with my blog if I did (if they aren’t already).
        Hope your back is soon mended!. I can understand how miserable that’s making you feel.By the way, I love reading long comments – it makes me feel less guilty about writing long ones myself. 😀

  5. Lovely pics. As you’d guess we have a lot of horses too and an old phone box with a phone. Yep, I’m sure nobody uses it either. It’s desperate for a coat of paint – yours is in much better nick. And, for the first time ever, I’m looking forward to the clocks going back and wake up time being light again. having only just come back from the states, I’m far too keen to stay in bed in the morning.

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    1. Thanks, bekki. I suppose many English villages are ‘much of a muchness’ if you know what I mean. I like the lighter mornings, too, but they don’t last for long enough.It will soon be dark at both ends!

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  7. Pingback: Thanks Millie! My attempt at re blogging! | lynz real cooking
  8. Pingback: Thanks Millie! A second attempt at reblogging | lynz real cooking

    1. Thank you! I really appreciate you reading and commenting on my post. I adore Scotland, although I’ve not been into Fife itself. We tend to head up to Inverness, although we’ve stayed a couple of times in Pitlochry and once in Dundee. So I suppose we’ve by-passed Fife on our way to the A9. It’s all very lovely though. The mountains are a big pull for me. 🙂

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      1. I can understand why you bypass Fife Millie, if we had the chance we would head up to the Highlands far more often than we do now 🙂 The area to the NW of Inverness is stunning, and Ross and Cromarty is great too.

      2. I love everywhere up there! I’ve only been as far as Ullapool on the western side, but really want to get well into Sutherland … not to mention up to the Shetlands and Orkneys. In all honesty, my list of ‘Places to Visit’ is a mile long – and growing daily. 🙂

    1. Thank you Ushasree. I’m glad you liked the post. It’s a very quaint village, but very quiet. We have no shops here, either, and must drive down to the next village for anything we might suddenly need. It’s only a couple of miles, so I suppose that’s not too bad.:) I’ll hpop over to read some of your posts as soon as I can.

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    1. Hi Suzanne. Thank you for liking my little village. It’s quite small, with only 80 houses and a church here. No shops or even a pub, so it’s very quiet, and wouldn’t suit everyone. The main thing that spoils it for me is the terrible internet connection. It drives us all mad! 😦 There are lots of people with horses, which gives it a very rural feel. We often joke that there are more horses than cars on the roads in this village. 🙂

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    1. Thank you very much for the nomination! I already have this award, but I know many people do same awards several times over. I’ve just read The Prologue of your novel (WIP) and will definitely find time to read some more as soon as I can.
      Sorry I’ve taken so long to respond to this – things have been a bit hectic for me recently. Finding time to write posts is becoming more and more difficult.Hope you are still enjoying being back on your blog.

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      2. I hope to keep a few posts going while I write Book 3, but I doubt I’ll manage more than a couple a week, at the most. Well done with your own writing, anyway! I hope you finish the book soon.
        Are you serious about loving blog awards? I thought you had so many you pobably weren’t interested. I’ve just done an award post, too. Still, I have two others beside yours to do, but you’ve probably got both of them. Have a great evening – and happy writing! 🙂

      3. Oh, I do love awards! They’re my favorite things, really.
        I’m excited for book 3! My friend is getting book 2 soon and I’ll be borrowing it from her 😀 I hope your writing goes smoothly and that you don’t hit a writer’s block 🙂

      4. Thank you! I love my Vikings but just need to spend more time with them. In other words, I need to get my proirities sorted out. If you’d like to do the award post I’ve just done, I can so easily add you to the list. I only nominated six people because I’ve got three other posts to do, including the one from you. I’d love you to do it – it’s a long one, with both facts and questions. If you’d like the link to my post, I can let you have it – but there’s only one post after it on my blog, so you could easily find it. Let me know if you’d like me to add your name. I’m glad you’re back blogging – you write such powerful posts! 😀

      5. Oh, I would love to do it! Like I said, I love awards– writing facts and answering questions outside of school are my favorite activities! Thank you so much, and best of luck to the Vikings!

  14. A picture may be worth a thousand words… but your beautiful words brought those gorgeous pictures and your village to life for all the world to see! I feel as though I could step right into the photos and come out the other side onto the country lane. 🙂 Thank you for sharing.

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  16. It feels surreal seeing all these lovely photos. It is a charming village that I thought I could only see it in movie. 😉 As a horse love, I’m so happy seeing your neighbor riding on a horse. How relaxing it is to ride a horse around the village! Thank you very much for sharing dear! 🙂

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    1. Thank you! I’m no photographer and these photos were just taken on my Samsung tablet. I’m afraid I don’t possess a ‘posh’ camera. 🙂 My daughter, who does a lot of photography, would no doubt tell me the light was all wrong or the perpective, or alignment . . . Still, I just like snapping things as I pass. Thank you for the nice comment! 🙂

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    1. Thank you, Freda. It is quite a quaint little village, but very quiet, too. Not everyone would like it here, with no shops or pubs at all. We like it, except for the poor internet connection that drives us all mad sometimes.

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      2. It has indeed. I’ve had the connection disappear when I’ve been in the middle of an email or about to post on my blog. It’s totally frustrating!

    1. Thank you, Anna. It is a pretty village and very peaceful, too. The only drawback to living in the countryside is the dreadful internet connection. It drives us all mad! 😀

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  21. All very English rural photos, Millie! Just as I imagined. Bit like watching a midsommer mystery. I see this idyllic mix of ye olde England with Dickensian type names on streets…like Washtub Lane, (gorgeous! ) And the phone box that is from a not so old era. Thanks for sharing Miilie

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    1. It is a bit like Midsommer in many English villages – the mix of very old and the new. Our house is almost opposite Washtub Lane, and the name made me laugh, too, when we came here 8 yeras ago. We have other lanes around the village with interesting names. like Bullpit Lane, Plot lane (gardens and allotments, not intrigues!).I’ve seen funny names in places all over England, like Bashful Alley and Cockledick Lane. All very thought-provoking!

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      1. These names are so evocative of English life that one can ponder and imagine all sorts of scenarios about how they came to be. My imagination runs wild! If ever you were stuck for ideas for a story you would only have to walk around the village. Aesthetic street or lane signs too. Ours here leave a lot to be desired.

      1. The rock is once in a lifetime! It’s good to be able to find the beauty in normal surroundings though. This week I have enjoyed photographing autumn in the little French village my mum lives in. When you go somewhere often you become numb to it!

      2. very true … beauty can be found everywhere. I’ve really enjoyed your posts since finding your awesome blog a few weeks ago, and thank you for the great posts on Australia.

  23. How nice to see photos from where you live! I was wondering about your village when I read one of your older posts with some photos, I’m so glad I got to see more 🙂 Everything looks so cute!!!!! What’s that castle-like building?

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    1. Thank you! It is quite a cute little village with a lot of really old buildings. There’s no castle here, so I think you must mean either the church (178) or the small dovecote (158).Both of those are medieval. The church is 11th century, the dovecote is 13th century.

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  24. Oh, I thought it was you on the horse. But that’s a good photo too. That’s some village. It looks like a writerly kind of a village. 🙂
    Really liked the pictures as they show the true life of a village (with no added colours to it). I missed reading your blog and others too. But now I’m back, will do the catching up – slow and steady.

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    1. I wondered if anyone would think it was me on the horse. I do love to ride, but Lynne is a neighbour and I was the one taking the photograph. I did wonder where you’d got to lately. We all need time to ourselves, at times. 🙂

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      1. Thanks for asking Millie. Came back from vacation and immediately got busy with my projects. I’ve not read the blogs in so many days.Miss both writing and reading. I hope all is well with you Millie. 🙂

      2. Some things are more important than blogging, Norma. You have no need to feel guilty for concentrating on your studying and future career. I’ve not been on WP much either, because of my writing. We can always catch up with each other later… Be happy and well, Norma. 😀

  25. I so hope your village will stay unchanged for centuries to come. People usually think that the changing world is an indication of progress. They don’t think however that this progress is possible because the world still has its core.

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    1. Thank you, Inese. The village is a little place of peace in a hectic world. I imagine other villages are the same in many countries of the world. Village life has its own agenda and its own momentum. It won’t be rushed, and changes are made very slowly. Most parts of this village look the same as they did before the last war, and probably long before that.I’m not a fan of city life and modern buildings, although I do appreciate the necessity of modern hospitals, schools and industrial premises etc. 🙂

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  26. Millie, Such a wonderful village. Lynn is always full of good ideas – the pictures were marvelous.I I’ve lovedl all of the villages visited during my visits to the British Isles and will definitely stop by next time I cross the ocean. Oh, and I’m an avid fan of Midsommer Murders. DCI Barnaby is such a cheerfully contented man for a police detective with so many murders on his hands!

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    1. Thank you, Clare! You know, I think people all over the world believe every English village is like Midsommer. It’s a wonder there’s anyone still alive around there! Haha. But village life is very serene, and not suited to many people – especially younger ones. I particularly like villages in the hilly regions, where all the old houses are built of local stone. They are so prettier than red brick houses, even ones that are a few hundred years old. This village has a prettiness about it, mostly because there are no shopping areas, or even a pub, so it’s all very quaint.
      Yes, Lynn is an amazing blogger. I do love to read her ongoing story about Saudi, and her recipes are lovely.
      Oh yes, if you come to Britain again, just let me know. 🙂

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      1. I live in a relatively small town an the East Coast of the US. I loved the towns and villages I visited each time I visited England. Right now I’m working on a murder mystery set in my town, so Midsommer is always on my mind. I will certainly let you know when we next visit.🇬🇧

      2. I love murder mysteries! My next book (haha! – in the far distant future) will be set in Roman times. You must let me know when you finish writing yours – I’d love to read it. Isn’t there a series set in New England about a vicar’s wife who is something of a sleuth? I can’t remember the author’s name, but every book begns, ‘Body in the …’ (different places, like the garden etc.)
        New England has been on our list of places to visit for ages! We’ll probably do the usual touristy thing and do ‘New England in the Fall’. All those maples look fantastic!
        I loved Midsommer Murders, too. Have you seen any with the new Barnaby? I really miss John Nettles, but the new one has his own appeal.
        I live near to Lincoln, which is a lovely old historic city. So do please let me know if you come over! 🙂

  27. Holy Christ !! How lucky you are Miss Millie… I live in City wer dust pollution has becom a evident part in our lives…. Your pics are so good nd it tells me dat der r still people who dwell in “heaven on earth” places… Blessed one you are!!!

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    1. Yes, the English villages are quite idyllic, and perfect for young married couples or retired people (like me and my husband). But they are very, quiet, Pinky, and young people hate living in them, no matter how pretty they are. There is nothing here for them, you see: no night life – or even a pub! Most young people who were born in villages, move out to the cities once they are old enough – as there is no work for them here either. City life at least provides for the needs of most people, for both work and recreation.
      As a former Gography teacher, I know how hard life in your cities must be, Pinky. Your country is still developing. But you will get there… one day, soon. Your country has a wonderful history, and many years of splendour behind it. It will rise to splendour again. 🙂

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      1. No matter how much u run behind money nd career , the beauty which yr njoying ryt now with the nature is sumthng not comparable with the materialistic things…… Must say yr Village is well maintained!

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