autumn in the early morning...

R left for work early yesterday and it was such a beautiful morning I decided to get up too and take the camera out for a walk.

It was one of those cool, misty mornings and as I left the house at about 6.45 the sun was just coming up...

The hedgerows are full of colourful seeds and fruits at the moment; berries reddening on the holly...

,,,juicy black elderberries...

The leaves are definitely beginning to change colour...

I'm always amazed at how quickly the sun rises - within just a few minutes of leaving home it had cleared the horizon and was beginning to feel warmer on my face.

I wandered down the country lanes; love the name of this one - do you ever wonder about how these little roads get their names?

The dew was sparkling in the sunshine...

Acorns and chestnuts on the trees...

(we used to say these were the fairies' bowls when I was little...)

I was keeping half an eye out for sloes - sloe gin has been on my 'must do' list; partly because I've finished the last of the bottle in the cupboard (!) and partly because I thought I might do some small bottles for pressies this year.

I walked out of one end of the village and round between the fields. At that time in the morning it was so quiet and peaceful - I didn't see a single car and only a couple of early cyclists and dog walkers. What was really noticeable was that as the sun rose the sounds of the birds came to life too.

Back in the hedgerows, no sloes! But bright red rosehips...

...and lots of blackberries...

...some a bit past their best already. Then finally...

...purply, black sloes! Only, if I'm honest, I was a tadge disappointed with these. You don't really get a sense of scale in this photo but these were teeny! About the size of a fat raisin! And some already a bit wrinkly looking. I picked a few but found myself thinking I'd need a lot to fill a bottle of gin! And pricking the skins of loads of tiny sloes is tedious in the extreme. Resigned to having to forage elsewhere I carried on with my walk.

Some of the leaf colour is already fabulous...

The photos don't do it justice, but the fields and verges were kind of shimmering in the low sunlight...

Then as I walked back into the village, I spotted these bad boys...!!

Huge juicy sloes, perfect!

In the same short strip of hedgerow, I also came across these...

We've always called these mirabelles or bullaces, but I've just been looking them up and the description of bullaces sounds more like the fat 'sloes' in the last photos! I'm pretty sure they were sloes, because the juice was enough to give you a face like you'd been sucking lemons! Usually these little plums are sweet fresh off the tree but they are obviously not quite ripe enough yet because one of these made me screw my face up! Bit tart yet!!

Pleased with my haul, I wandered back through the village; funny how you take things for granted - I don't usually notice how pretty it is...

Back past the little church and the allotments...

Back home, the sun was fully on the front of the house by this time and the virginia creeper was looking lovely...

I know this is a bit of a photo heavy post but it was so heavenly to have an hour or so just to absorb all the lovely things around me and wanted to keep them to remind me; hope you enjoyed joining me on my walk!

One last peep at my 'food for free'...

My next post will definitely be more of a crafty one - I finally finished the Noro socks and I'm well on the way with the quilt, so lots to show...

Til then, take care

Sx