Winter walks.....

I like walking around local villages & landscapes during winter & sometimes take my camera (I should take it every time, but often forget)

I live in rural Hampshire & having been brought up in this area, I know it pretty well & know where there is a good walk to be had, followed by a beer or two & a good meal at a nice pub.

Sounds simple, but I do appreciate that I am very lucky to live where I do & that the surrounding countryside is (in my opinion) some of the best anywhere. It is full of wildlife & flora that I like to watch & study & sometimes eat!

In summer the fishing is great & anything from Pheasants to Sloe's are on my list of Autumn & Winter seasonal highlights. To that end whilst out walking today I took this shot of a very frosty blackthorn hedge from whence the Sloe berries I harvest to make Sloe Gin come from (I also had a small hip flask of Sloe Gin with me on the day to warm me through on my 3 hour trek). In fact the photo is taken only a few yards away from the family home of Mr Blunt (really Blount), below, and even closer to the Methodist Chapel built in 1839, where my maternal Great Great Great Grandfather, John Page gave his sermons.... small world eh!?

Some other photographic highlights of the past can be viewed here.