I said in my last post that Autumn was accelerating towards Winter.  Little did I realise the speed of the transition.  Woke up Friday morning to hard frost but clear blue sky with just a few lenticular clouds acting like a prism for the bright sun.

Looking down the garden at 09.20 Friday morning

Close up of the lenticular prism

By mid afternoon it was snowing and within half an hour the garden was turning white.

Snowing heavily at 16.30

Turning white by 17.00

Overnight it froze even harder, down to -2^oC.  And it stayed below freezing most of the Saturday.  I walked to the supermarket via the top of the mountain and it was dramatically colder and more extreme up there with snow frozen on trees and drifting through the gaps in hedges and fences.  With the exception of 2009-10 this is weather we haven’t seen for many years and certainly I can’t remember it coming so early in the season.   This winter could be good fun.

First thing Saturday morning

The scenic route to the supermarket

If I was at home for Christmas I would be collecting holly in a couple of weeks time

Holly tree just below The Folly

Snow drifting through the hedge in the strong wind

Farmers having to start winter feeding of the sheep very early

Just a nice composition