Tags
autumn, berries, blackthorn, colourful leaves, countryside, field maple, haws, Hawthorn, Holly, ivy, rosehips, sheep, sloes, Suffolk, walking, wild fruits
Richard asked me if I’d like to accompany him to the post-box down the lane. He had a birthday card to post to his brother and also a notice to put on the village notice-board. The weather was fine, though cloudy and we hadn’t walked anywhere together for a few weeks. I quickly put on my coat and walking shoes and we set off.
The hedge on the opposite side of the lane was pale green and orange.

The hedges still had a few leaves left on them. This is a Field Maple (Acer campestre) hedge. Not in focus, but I liked the colours.
A gap in the hedge further along the lane gave us a sight of the tower belonging to All Saints church. It is surrounded by trees, most of which have lost their leaves now. The field has been sown with barley or wheat which has germinated and will continue to grow on milder days all through the winter.
We met a neighbour and chatted with her for some time. I admired the fine cherry tree in her front garden.
We walked on to the notice-board and then decided to continue down the lane.
A row of Italian Alders (Alnus cordata) were planted some years ago as a wind-break along the edge of a field. The cones are much larger than our native Alder cones.
Our local stream, The Beck, has been dry for months. We have not had enough rainfall this year.

The Guelder-rose trees (Viburnum opulus) have been beautiful this autumn! I have never seen so much viburnum fruit before!

This tree-trunk was covered with Ivy stems (Hedera helix). It attaches itself to trees, fences and walls by short roots and can completely cover tall trees. A Dog Rose (Rosa canina) stem hung in front of the tree.

Our Blackberries (Bramble) (Rubus fruticosus agg.) were very poor this year because of the low rainfall. Even the mice and birds didn’t chose to eat these ones which have been left to shrivel on the vine.
We soon arrived back home, having been away a lot longer than we had originally intended.
This was a walk we took a fortnight ago and after a couple of frosts and some strong wind last night most of the remaining leaves have fallen from the trees. The countryside looks ready for winter now.
My music choice today is ‘Somewhere in my Heart’ by Aztec Camera. There is no special reason for my choice except I like it and am amazed it is thirty years old!
Thanks for visiting!
What beautiful countryside you have to walk in and what a splendid collection of autumn fruits and flowers you photographed. I thought highly of Richard’s posting technique too.
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Thank-you very much, Susan. You will make him a proud man!
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Modesty forbids…
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🙂
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A good walk well illustrated.
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Thank-you, Tom.
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These are beautiful photos from your walk, Clare! I especially love the Guelder-rose.
I am listening to the music now, and enjoying it. I have never heard of this group. This video is 30 years old?
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Thank-you very much, Lavinia; Guelder-rose is one of my favourite native trees with lovely white blossom, red berries and good autumn colour. Yes, the video was made in 1987.
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A lovely fall walk for sure, it was nice to see the various fruits and berry from it. The surprise was the late rose, a real treat on a gloomy day here. I’m was also surprised to hear that it had been dry there this summer, it seems like every time that you’ve gone for a walk with your walking group that it’s been raining.
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Thank-you, Jerry. It was good to see the rose, though they do often continue flowering until December. I think you may have confused me with someone else as I don’t belong to a walking group. (Marianne perhaps?) Most of Britain (especially the west and north) has had a very wet year but we in the south and east have been quite dry.
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Sorry about the mix up, it must have been a senior moment. I didn’t know that weather variations were so pronounced across a relatively small area like Britain, since it is essentially a large island.
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No worries, Jerry. I live in an almost continual senior moment with glimpses of normality every now and then! My mother is driving me to distraction at the moment!
I think, it is just because we are a large island on the edge of an ocean and also because of the North Atlantic Drift, that we get such differences in weather.
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I can see Richard knows the importance of doing even small things well. 🙂 And, enjoying it! How far did you have to walk?
The view over the hedge to the fields is my favorite scene today – nicely framed, and so pretty!
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Thank-you, Lisa! Surprisingly, it isn’t a long walk – about three miles, I think. I just make it last longer by taking so many photos! Richard gets fed-up waiting for me so walks on and I have to run to catch up with him. It keeps me fit!
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What a fine country stroll. Thanks for taking us along.
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Thank-you, Margaret.
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Could the ‘plums’ be damsons? Doesn’t look the right kind of tree, though. Not heard of bullace, so will look it up.
You seem to have had more autumnal colour than us. The wind keeps blowing away the leaves as they turn. But I appreciated seeing your neighbour’s cherry tree 😊.
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Thank-you, Helen. We had a lot of red leaf colour at the beginning of autumn that only lasted a day or two until a very windy day blasted it away! I really am not sure what the fruit is. I should have looked more closely at it at the time. Bullace is a type of wild plum which is almost indistinguishable from blackthorn. It is often spiny which confuses the issue.
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Thanks for the description of bullace. You seem to know a lot about plants/fruits!
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Thank-you, Helen. Not as much as I’d like to know! One day I’d like to study botany properly.
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I’m impressed anyway 😊
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🙂
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How wonderful to see such a jolly Post-Man! And all your other lovely pics. I was particularly interested to see all the fruit still around on the various plants. I have been saying to Steve that it seems to have been a particularly good berry-year, especially Rowan berries – is this your impression too? And 30 years for Somehwere In My Heart? Nooooooooooooo!!!!! Still a great track though 😀x
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Thank-you very much, Liz. It has been a very good year for fruit and berries though our Rowan tree didn’t have many berries for some reason. I’m glad you enjoyed the vintage Aztec Camera. Yes – 1987 was the year. Unbelievable! xx
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A very pleasant walk. What a shame that house is empty; I agree it’s a fine looking house. I love the colours of the spindlefruit but we don’t seem to have so many around here this year though there are plenty of other fruit. Bullace branches are a little droopier than blackthorn and don’t have such vicious thorns but I’m not sure how else you tell the difference.
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Thank-you very much, Anne. I hadn’t realised Bullace was droopier than Blackthorn but knew it was often thorny. I wish I had looked more closely at the fruit at the time. I don’t remember seeing thorns but that doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t there!
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Delightful walk Clare. I can never walk the lanes of your beautiful Suffolk countryside, so please keep on taking us there in your posts. Like yours, the best walks are always taken at a slow pace looking in detail into the hedgerows and fields. There’s so much to see there. Sorry to see your beck is dry.
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Thank-you very much, Richard. I like to look at all there is to see and photograph it, if possible. My husband gets tired of waiting for me and walks on so I have to run to catch up!
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Lovely; well that calmed me down no end. We need you to come walking with us, Clare, so you can point out what all the plants we take for granted are. Nice to hear Aztec Camera – I was never a huge fan, but it was good to hear this number again. As for the posting technique, well – very slick…
PS Plenty of water in the frozen north if you need some.
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Thanks very much, Mike! Do send us some of your rain, if you can 😀
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What a lovely walk. I enjoyed every minute of it. But more than the countryside sights, I am impressed that you have a post box. They are an endangered species in my neighbourhood.
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Thank-you very much, Anne. We are fortunate to have a post-box and we are always pleased to see the post-van drive past the house at 4.30 in the afternoon on its way to empty the box. Sadly, many of our old Victorian and Edwardian boxes have been stolen recently. We are losing our post offices in towns and villages and our banks too, which is another problem.
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Yes, it’s much the same here.
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Aw…I love the photo of Richard, Clare. Thank you for this lovely walk. I was just outside earlier capturing a few photos of our red maples…they are magnificent. I really enjoyed your music choice, but I’m feeling old! Is that really thirty years old? Yikes! Have a wonderful weekend, my friend. xo
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Thank-you so much, Jill! I would love to see your red maples! I too, was amazed to find the song was thirty years old! I hope your Thanksgiving celebration was a good one. Have a happy and peaceful weekend xx
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A beautiful walk! You still have a lot of lovely autumn colour!
Enjoyed your musical choice…I had totally forgotten about Aztec Camera and it was a great blast from the past.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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Thank-you very much, Sheryl! My husband had forgotten about Aztec Camera, too. I hope you have a lovely weekend!
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A lovely walk well illustrated
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Thank-you, Derrick.
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Beautiful post and photos, Clare.
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Thank-you very much, Elizabeth!
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You’re so lucky to have all those hedges made up of so many different plants. Their fall colors really are beautiful! One of my favorites is the spindle. The one where I work is just about ready to get a photo of.
I like the empty yellow house but I wonder why the path is off center of the door. I hope it was done on purpose. I would have surely been fired for a mistake like that!
I’m not familiar with the Guelder-rose but it sure does fruit well in spite of the dryness.
I hope you get some beneficial rains soon. Droughts are hard to get through for plants.
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Thank-you very much, Allen. Despite the lack of rainfall it has been a good year for fruit, I don’t know how or why! The yellow house is a couple of hundred years old and with old houses anything goes, it seems! I think the drive up to the house was always in that place so they just tidied it up! As you can see with the windows, they were put in all over the place with no idea of symmetry!
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Lovely, lovely walk and great song. What a terrific way start the day!
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Thank-you very much, Laurie!
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A magical trip Clare to offset my worries about our impending heat in Sydney. Is the empty house for sale?
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Thank-you, Meg. I don’t envy you the summer heat!
Yes, the house is for sale but I’ve not been able to find out the price. Very expensive, I suspect!
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£550,000
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A beautiful autumn walk Clare, the last burst of the leaves before they fell – ours aren’t all gone yet and one of the cherry trees in the park looks as beautiful as your neighbour’s, still in its autumn leaves.
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Thank-you very much, Andrea. I just love the shades of pink and peach in the cherry tree’s leaves.
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Oh, I love reading your posts, Clare — every one! So kind of you to share the pictures from your walk with Richard, and please tell him he has a lovely smile! I like every picture, and your neighbour’s cherry tree is a cheery sight indeed. My best to you and your family.
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You are very kind, Cynthia – thank-you! I have passed on your message to Richard – he thanks you kindly. I hope you and your family have a good week and I send my best wishes for a Holy and peaceful Advent.
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I really like these posts and the attention to detail you give to the natural world–so many pretty details to notice! And Richard’s posting technique–wow!
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Thank-you very much, Kerry!
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Lovely walk – good to see so many berries about. Could this be the start of a series about Richard posting cards for various festivals in a selection of different Suffolk post boxes? There’s a rare Edward VIII box at Bawdsey. http://www.wicks.org/pulp/part2.html
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There’s an idea! I must find an excuse to go to Bawdsey. Two of our very old post boxes have been stolen recently. One was free-standing and the other in a brick pillar which was demolished by the thieves.
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Yes, I saw that story when I was browsing through a few more links in my quest to waste my life on the net. I see there’s an old box in Framlingham too. Shame on the thieves for stealing such historical objects.
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All for the price of scrap metal (or maybe some collector…)
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Very sad.
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I meant to thank you for your kind comment but pressed send too quickly.
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🙂 Yes, I do that too.
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🙂
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I so love your posts Clare and savour each one. You evoke memories of my early childhood as I remember rosehip syrup and my Great Granny’s garden and her berries and jam making. There is a peace and contentment that flows through your writing and a warmth that says ‘Pull up a chair, let’s sit together for a while’. Thank you ❤ xXxx ❤
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You are always so kind, Jane – thank-you ❤ xx ❤
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Clare,it was a delight to accompany you and Richard on your walk -and to see the grand posting! 😀😀 Being in the same part of the country it is wonderfully familiar and your photos beautifully highlight the wondrous nature this time of year. Those becks!! The ones near us look the same, long since dry and full of leaves…I worry about flooding later in the winter! Yeah!! I’d forgotten about Aztec Camera until your post…lovely trip down memory lane with this song, particularly school discos!!
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Thank-you very much, Annika! Thankfully, we have had quite a bit of rain this week and some of the ditches and the Beck now have a little water in them. What a young woman you are to be reminded of school discos! I had a two year old daughter and was contemplating moving to Suffolk from SE London 30 years ago 😮
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Ahh…I like the sound of young woman!! 😀 I look at my teenage son and his girlfriend and remember those years when of course you knew everything and were so grown up!
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Lovely walk and great posting technique! I could happily move in to that empty house. Really miss the countryside sometimes. So very grateful to have bits of Epping Forest within walking distance.
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Thank-you very much, Rachel. Epping Forest is really lovely and is a wonderful haven so close to London.
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A lovely Country walk, hopefully the weather will stay dry over Christmas to go for some walks with all the family. It was nice to see your photos 😊.
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Thank-you! It would be really nice to have a walk at Christmas. We usually manage one on Boxing Day if it’s not raining too hard. 🙂
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What a lovely walk, Clare. Thanks so much for sharing it. Very fascinating the pretty pink and orange spindle fruit.
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Thank you very much, Rosie. Spindle is a great favourite of mine.
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🙂
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