It’s all quiet in the garden. I haven’t done anything notable in it for weeks. The only major bit of work was the pre-winter pruning of the beech hedges; front and back this time. Almost all of the patio pots have now been put away in the greenhouse, the cannas from the front display have been prepared for winter, the Strelitzia is safely inside and the large terracotta pots are tucked away in the shed.

I haven’t started the winter clean-up proper yet. I seem to be preferring having a bit of break and I’ll need some time to build the courage to go outside when the weather isn’t great the wind is biting cold.

The autumn colours have been good this year (for this part of the world anyway). The inherited ornamental cherry put on a lovely show of orange but other plants still want to carry on flowering. The rose is managing a few blooms, the Chrysanthemums are still soldering on, the fatsia is now in full flower and there are hints of the flowers to come from true winter flowering plants such as the Mahonia, Wintersweet, Christmas Box and shrubby honeysuckle.

There’s not a great deal more to report – which I’m slightly surprised by – usually I can reel off a list of things from my head of what was recently done and what needs doing but right now, I just fancy ignoring all that and prefer to curl up with a book and a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

It’s getting to that time where the garden no longer takes front and centre attention, but just seems to imperceptibly fade into the background as thoughts turn to comfort food, Christmas trees, decorations, lights, baking and mixed spice. Things outside can stay messy, for a while.