It has been a wonderfully warm and sunny day. I have spent it washing sheets and towels after the last spell of visitors. John has watched his team lose to Aston Villa on TV. We set off for an afternoon walk on Drummond Hill just a little too late in the day. By now it was grey and felt slightly melancholy. Drummond Hill was the Forestry Commission's first plantation. Timber was needed after the first world war. The bracken is turning rusty, but we saw a deer, several squirrels and this single sprig of heather. You can smell autumn...