Normally, the battle to turn on the heating hots up around the start of the month, but not this year. Windows are still flung wide open. The weekend weather was perfect for raking leaves, bonfires and country walks. I don't recall having a barbecue in November-I had never previously cooked partridge that way.
The full Moon of last week usually heralds the arrival of woodcock, which fly westwards underneath its glare, but, with everywhere so warm, they haven't bothered catching their flight to Britain. They simply don't need to.
The weather makes it strange planning the Christmas issues of the magazine; looking at pictures of snow, ice and plum puddings seems surreal. It is hard to believe that the school holidays will be starting in less than a month.
It's only six weeks until the turkey needs to be in the oven. But at least Country Life is not a monthly magazine-this week, those editors will be closing their March issues, when the daffodils will be out. I could do with a cold snap, just to get myself in the mood, but not for too long, as every day the boiler slumbers I feel a little richer.
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Chelsea Flower Show 2025: What else to do in SW3 if you're coming to the world's greatest flower showThere's more to Chelsea than just the Flower Show so we've rounded up some of the best places to eat, stay and shop.
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Uniquely unique? The Yorkshire grain silos transformed into a home that's a symphony in glass, steel and curvesAmid the beautiful countryside of North Yorkshire, on the edge of the Castle Howard Estate, The Silos is a property for which the word 'house' simply doesn't cut it. And that's not the only way in which it's made us throw out the dictionary.
