On Saturday afternoon G and I dropped the children off with their cousins for a couple of hours, and we headed for the University Parks, one of my favourite places in Oxford. This has been a good year for berries - the bushes and trees were absolutely laden with them. If you know of any hungry birds, tell them there's a feast on at the Parks.
We strolled around the Parks, admiring some very energetic games of tennis on the playing fields, and then we headed northwards, following the river back into the city. Along the river there were the most elegant swans, a few punts, and some beautiful trees.
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| Punting |
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| The river Isis, in Oxford |
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| Weeping willow by the University Parks |
On the way back to pick up the children we walked through Wolfson College, and I had lawn envy. They don't have moulting chickens and drifts of fallen leaves on their lawn. They have croquet hoops and neat stripes from the mower.
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| Wolfson College's beautiful croquet lawn |
And this morning I find myself back in London, looking at these photos to see if the berries really were that red, and to see if the parks really were that beautiful with autumn colour. They were. I've turned the windfalls into stewed apple, hidden the presents, made plans for the fig jam and made the first pot of tea in the new teapot.
It was a very good weekend.
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| The Oxford University Parks |
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| My new teapot (with sweet little matching milk jug) |
It is a good year for berries. The hedgerows in Hampshire were glowing red for miles.
ReplyDeleteYour new teapot and jug are beautiful! Lucy x
ReplyDeleteThat new teapot is lovely! Glad you had a good weekend :D
ReplyDeleteOh what a beautiful pot! and the jug is very sweet x
ReplyDeleteI've spent the last few weeks looking out of my office window watching birds strip the berries off a tree. They're almost all gone now.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me while I turn green! I miss Oxford, hugely, and while I am sure it's 90% nostalgia, you took photos that remind me of hours and hours spent in the Parks (and not being allowed to take our bikes through even though it was a short cut from college to the Science Park). Sigh.
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