Hello my friends! 

I don’t know about you but I often find winter a tough time of year to connect with. Christmas is always amazing as well as celebrating the solstice in December but it generally just rains a lot and is rather dull and grey in this part of the UK.

Of course there are still plenty of things to do, I’ve got bird feeders in both the front and back gardens and love watching all the little birdies (and the squirrels!) but nature is generally in hibernation and you can’t really play outside in it. 

I suppose staying upbeat this winter has been helped by the fact we’ve had more snow! It wasn’t quite as good as the snow we had back in late November but it gave me a chance to get out and about with my camera and I wanted to take you with me so you can enjoy the pretty countryside too! I hope these photos bring as much joy to your week as they did mine.

To start my icy adventure I headed to one of my favourite spots near home, because of the surrounding views I like to imagine that this is a gateway into Middle Earth.

When the weather is like this its lovely just to slowly wander and watch the world sleeping.

This snow was quite icy but something I was genuinely surprised by was the amount of vivid green! I loved searching for ice covered plants.

The fairy tree is the unofficial marker for the village boundary (there’s also a modern sign), isn’t amazing how its boughs have acted as an umbrella and kept the grass lush and dry (my theory is the fairies aren’t keen on snow!).

Some of the ice crystals were quite big and were beginning to form tiny droplet icicles! Which were rather lovely to look at!

It wasn’t particularly cold so the snow was rather fleeting but it looked so beautiful against all of the lush, vivid evergreen leaves.

The snow had come in on the wind and had settled on the trees vertically up the trunks giving them an odd half ’n’ half look! 

Since the trees are bare and all of their leaves aren’t blocking the view you get a much broader view of the world.

I even met a friendly robin! He was so tiny, I didn’t want to get to close and scare him off which is why the shot is a tad too soft. It was so quiet outdoors (mainly because it was too icy to drive) and there were so many birds singing in the branches and the bushes.

It was all rather lovely and did wonders to lift my spirits after a week of intense rain. The days are starting to get longer, it won’t be long and nature will soon burst back into life, and even if some of us humans don’t really like it this period of rest is essential for nature.

I really hope you enjoyed joining me on a stroll through the countryside and that it bought a little brightness to your day. Next week I’ve got a new butterfly to share with you! 

As always thank you so much for reading my friends, and have a lovely week!