I want to enjoy autumn for a bit before I start to get all festive. We've been going on lovely walks around here, and gradually finding pushchair-friendly routes. The best places are along the canal or in the woods. I know if this pregnancy is the same as the last one, then I'm going to be housebound for the next few months. Its very painful to walk while pushing a pushchair loaded with shopping, but gentle strolls with my husband are just about bearable and I'm not going to give in just yet!



On Wednesday I bumped into a friend in town and  I nearly burst into tears because I was in so much pain and didnt know how I was going to make it home. So I've given up walking into town, and I'm doing all my shopping online unless I go with my husband in the car (I don't drive).

The weather has been lovely for autumnal strolls, and we're really lucky to live in such a nice part of the country, even if the town where we live isn't that great. I love woodlands, especially oak woods. I think the colours and darkness and textures are my natural habitat, the way that some people 'seaside' people or 'mountain' people. All good walks should invovle a country pub and real ale, although I have to stick to a Dandelion & Burdock these days.


 

In the woods we stumbled across this baby owl! H loves looking up at the trees.



This is Caen Hill Locks, on the Kennet & Avon canal near Devizes. There are 29 locks in a row, once I went through them in my brother's narrowboat, it took us all afternoon.

I'm hoping this weekend will mainly involve vegan cupcake-eating, jerusalem artichoke-digging, compost-spreading, some more walking and christmas decoration-making.

Salisbury

Quite often I miss living in a city, I miss art and culture and shops and galleries. I miss the museum in Cardiff where I would go in my lunchtimes to look at the paintings. The town where I live is very small with not a lot going on.

 

So a couple of weeks ago we went to Salisbury for the day, as the international food festival was on. It's amazing how you can live near to somewhere but somehow never get around to going there. We spoke to people with American and Australian accents, like they had travelled around the world to come to Salsbury, but I've lived here for 5 years, and only ever driven through.

 

We went to the Catherdral where there were sculptures by Sean Henry. It was great fun going round the catherdral trying to spot them, after a while we didnt care about the historical gargoyles and architecture and things, we just wanted to take a picture of every single sculpture. They were so eeriliy realistic. There is also a copy of the Mappa Mundi there. Salisbury has a really nice feel to it, with lovely cafes and shops and interesting buildings.


The Sean Henry exhibition is on until 31st October.