Hot day yesterday, when we didn’t feel like doing a whole lot.  I got the grass cut, at least, but regretted it: it was a sweaty job, even late in the afternoon and using a self-propelled mower.  I wanted to get it pretty short, but find that the mower doesn’t pick up the clippings very well on its lowest setting, but it looks tidy, anyway.

This morning I mooted a little walk before the mercury started climbing again.  One of the good things about the housing development up the road is that it has opened out a couple of footpaths to the Common, so we can go walking without seeing a lot of buildings.  Our walk took us past the local pond, where we were delighted beyond words to see not only Doris and Arthur, but also at least two surviving ducklings.  The adults are looking thin and scruffy, now that they have started moulting, but the ducklings are fattening up nicely. Oh, and Martyn spotted a badger in the garden a few nights back.  I think I saw a green woodpecker from the back window this morning: we certainly heard and saw them on our walk.  We're so glad we moved here.

Our walk took us through much lovely woodland and past a lot of ponds that date, we guess, from Regency days when the spa was becoming fashionable.  One of the farms has done a bit of somewhat questionable padlocking of gates, which made for a few detours, plus scrambling through nettles.  But the experience was otherwise a delight.  There is so much natural beauty so close to home: we were surprised how many streams we encountered on the slope down to the river.   

Well, the only bad thing about such walks is the climb back home, which had us panting and sweating a bit.  Still, the last bit was pretty flat, with a woodland path bringing us back out on to the new road a few hundred yards from the front door.  Home again amid increasing cloud cover, rumbles of  thunder and a sprinkling of rain.  How smug one feels on those rare occasions when one gets the best of the day!