As summer begins its slow surrender to autumn, the garden takes a much needed deep breath.
Intense summer sun this year produced higher than average temperatures over a long period and crops gasped between waterings. Surviving but not thriving.
Our Cumbrian landscape takes on a quiet, reflective beauty. The air is softer, carrying the welcome scent of damp earth, blooms revive and the light has a gentle golden quality, less harsh, more tender, as if the sun itself is taking a rest.
Misty, ethereal riverbanks
Harshness of summer seems to be forcing leaves to turn prematurely.
There’s a tiredness to their green with a subtle shift toward gold and amber, sighing in preparation for their winter rest.
Oaks and beeches which are usually the last to change, already seem dotted with russet and bronze, while the rowan berries glow like embers against the fading foliage.
Fields near the riverbanks are often shrouded in heavy mists come morning and veils of mist cling to the grass, dampening the earth and creating a dreamlike stillness.
The river, still warm from the summer sun, murmurs softly as it winds through the valley, the banks lined with dried grasses and seed heads rustle in the breeze.
Nature’s Constant Companions
The robin, our year round garden companion, has already switched to his winter song. A shorter chip-chip to bring in the changing season.
His presence is constant, waiting for me to harvest crops or hoe, turning the soil to provide his lunch. He is a reminder that life in the countryside goes on, even as the days grow shorter.
Swallows perform their aerial acrobatics over harvested fields, wings cutting through the crisp morning air.
There’s a urgency to their flight now, a sense that they know their time in the north is short. In just a couple of weeks, they’ll begin their long journey south, leaving the Cumbrian skies quieter and emptier, until next summer.
Hedgerows are alive with the rustle of small creatures; Hedgehogs fattening in preparation for hibernation, foxes and pheasants patrolling their territories and the occasional deer pausing to graze before the first frosts arrive.
The air is filled with the chatter of squirrels burying their winter stores, tiny paws scattering plentiful acorns across the woodland floor.
Moving on
For me, there’s a certain magic in these last days of summer. It’s a time of calm transition, where the countryside takes a breath, caught between the warmth of the past season and the promise of autumn’s crisp embrace.
Walking paths and woodlands provides a sense of gratitude and a quiet acknowledgment of nature’s cycles.
Swallows will return next year, leaves will green again and the misty mornings will give way to clear, starry nights.
Now, the Cumbrian countryside is content to slow down, to savor these final moments of summer’s gentle curtain call.
We also need to follow our natural rythm and allow ourselves to take time and slow down with the season.
Maire x