As September draws to a close – what a month! The driest September on record and temperatures in the mid 20’s – just wonderful! Of course this does mean Autumn is very late coming this year; hardly any change in the colour of the leaves and blackberries still hanging on in there – one of the best blackberry harvests I can remember.

LEAP held a footpath working party on Saturday, and yet another day dawned warm and sunny as we gathered in the Village Hall car park. However rain – yes finally rain – was forecast and sure enough the weather men were spot on! The plan was to work on a footpath running alongside Parliament Farm from the Old House driveway. Last year LEAP started clearing this path which was very over grown and becoming muddy during the winter months due to lack of sunlight reaching through the overgrowth to help dry out the ground. It is a very well used path therefore it was felt that it was a good use of time to try and keep the path maintained. We all got off to a great start in the sunshine clipping and trimming away the hawthorn bushes and trailing brambles, carefully avoiding the sloes. Suddenly the sky started to change to a very ominous black and within minutes the wind had whipped up followed by heavy driving rain. Not to be defeated we all carried on working and luckily being under overhanging trees, managed to stay relatively dry. The rain did ease and a significant difference was made to the path with a couple of hours. If you think you might like to join in with any of the LEAP working parties, new volunteers are always very welcome. We are a very friendly bunch and it is a rewarding way to spend a couple of hours out in the countryside.

The following day I decided instead of my usual Pitch Hill walk that I would try a new route and incorporate the footpath we worked on the previous day. It was such a glorious sunny Sunday afternoon and I came across several families also out walking this route – so good to see others enjoying the ‘fruits of our labour’!