Nigel curled up on my lap as I sit under the pergola

All the birds and animals have been let out of their houses, fed and watered and new straw put into the old duck house. Last night, when baby duck and his companion were abed, I changed the water in their bath. They came out for a swim into a clean pool and loved it.

The trees are all heavy with ripening fruit and soon we will be picking and eating and giving away apples and pears and nectarines and plums – late summer and autumn bounty