The hedgerow is bulging under the weight of endless brambles, leggy nettles, spindly hazel branches, ghostly seed pods and dried thistles.
At first glance, the hedgerow appears to be an overgrown clump of green leaves and dense weeds but peer in a little closer and you will find a veritable feast for dormice, hedgehogs, deer, redwings, yellowhammers and song thrushes.
Pink Honeysuckle and black bryony berries are a vivid red, unlike their name, suggests. Rosehips clustered together like miniature pomegranates in abundance. Of course, a stroll in September is not complete without a blackberry treat!
A gap in the hedgerow, the usual view down to woodland is replaced by the hypnotic waving of the field corn. Their tassel tops crackling with each gentle blow send me on my way up the lane with a smile that the harvest is coming.
Hi, I’m Charlotte, I write at a fairly modern but large oak table in our home in a Mid-Devonshire village. We moved here 2 years ago after a transient British forces life of moving around the UK and Germany. Here in my corner of Substack, you will find tales from a homebody who loves the balance of a local micro-adventure; uncomplicated parenting, childhood nostalgia, motherhood musings, lots of seasonal stories, gardening and helpful family ideas and resources. The seasons are entwined throughout our home, our family values, and are rooted within my personal growth. If you love the pace and patterns of Mother Nature then you’re definitely in the right place.
I will leave you with this autumnal poem that fits perfectly with my Devonshire hedgerow in September.
The Song of the Black Bryony Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker
“Bright and wild and beautiful
For the Autumn Festival,
I will hang from tree to tree
Wreaths and ropes of Bryony,
To the glory and the praise
Of the sweet September days.”
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