There have not been much in the way of frost and crisp conditions as yet but things are going to change on Christmas Eve with some properly cold weather due to set in – hopefully perfect for a bit of nordic-style magic in the afternoons. Meanwhile, Knole was grey, dank and deeply atmospheric today with lots of birds darting around: treecreeper, goldcrest, song thrush and one large buzzard all showing well among the more usual suspects. The deer herds were in fine fettle, gracefully scooting through the trees as we approached.

The previous week’s walk was a splendid sunset affair under a blue sky at Fackenden Down. We stayed ‘at altitude’ by parking at the top of the hill and joining the route there. This gave us superb views from on-high near Warren Farm as we neared the end of our jaunt. Versions of this walk are describe under Shoreham Mk 2 and Shoreham and Fackenden Down.

Happy Christmas.