Country and Farming

The £253m scheme, that pays farmers in England for “public goods” such as insecticide-free farming, wildflower strips and managing ponds and hedgerows, closed within six hours.

The slightest sprinkling of frost greeted us this week, just the finest of coatings covering the long damp grass in the shadows. It was gone once the sun was up, casting its warmth across the land but the familiar tingling in my finger ends reminded me that winter is on its way. We’ve had some glorious sunsets and equally glorious sunrises where the sky has been scorched with scarlet hues; perhaps not the best sign if the old adage of red sky at morning is anything to go by.