There are a hundred things that I really should be getting on with today, I've really not got into the swing of things yet this year and am behind with all of my plans and aims. But this morning was a perfect winter morning and much too beautiful to stay inside. So I bundled up in my hat, gloves, scarf, thickest coat, cosy socks and trusty walking boots and set off for a walk.
The countryside is so beautiful after a full frost but it really was cold, the temperature was showing as -4 as I set off (which is pretty cold for these parts). I just walked a few miles, wandering down lanes, across fields, along bridleways and footpaths, past beautiful houses and around the churchyard, but there was much to see. Lots of frosty leaves and berries and a surprising amount of wildlife – robins, jays and blackbirds; a fallow deer (which was too quick for my camera); rabbits and squirrels and a couple of ponies. Here's what a I recorded from my walk, a little snapshot of a frosty winter day in a Hertfordshire village, when the 'earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone'*.
* From 'In the Bleak Midwinter' Christina Rossetti
Now I'm home again and warming up with a cup of tea and a toasted cheese scone and although I'll not be able to tick many things off my to do list today I do feel much restored by my quiet walk with it's small delights. Tomorrow I will begin to get organised, see you soon x
little cotton rabbits 
Wow, where you live is so beautiful! I love seeing photographs like this that celebrate the quiet moments and the details! Everything around here seems so grey in comparison right now!
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Beautiful photos – very envious of the lovely countryside on your doorstep! We don’t have many birds here anymore, but I have been watching a very territorial robin fighting all the other little birds off ‘his’ feeder in the garden. I’ve been watching from the warmth of the kitchen, I put off my cleaning chores to bake a fig cake, with the figs soaked in some port – bottle passed on from my Mum, was an unwanted gift. The smell was amazing!!
Well done for taking a break to have some ‘me’ time – can always catch up on the rest when it’s a more ordinary grey day!
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Love the beautiful photos. How I miss seeing green grass! Lots of snow and -16 where I am. With the windchill -22. All the little creatures around here are staying tucked away. Thank you for sharing your day. It helped brighten mine.
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Just beautiful – definitely worth ignoring that list of things to do for some fresh country air.
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Beautiful Julie, I’m not a fan of winter or the cold but I wouldn’t have minded joining you on your little walk today, so much prettiness and beautiful wildlife!
V x
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Beautiful photos. Thank you for posting.
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Lovely! Felt like I was walking with you.
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I keep trying to find the like button on your photos. Too much instagramming! Consider them all liked.
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Beautiful photos thank you for sharing your walk on here
Jackie x
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What a lovely walk! Bunnies, and gorgeous stone churches, frost on the ivy, ponies and moss and best of all Snowdrops! (Our snowdrops wouldn’t dare poke their heads up yet. Thank you so much for sharing. It is a bitter 5 degrees F in western PA USA today so your walk looks much more beautiful than the frozen tundra we have. OF course, the UK is always more beautiful.
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Thank you so much for sharing all these beautiful photos!!!
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What a visual treat! Such beauty is well worth braving the cold. And my motto is always “Give your feet equal time.” Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful walk, Julie! Always look forward to reading your words and seeing your pictures. Your outside world is quite different than mine.
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I’m so glad you feel restored after your walk. The photos are beautiful, I felt like I was right there beside you.
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Thank you for the beautiful walk. I enjoyed it from the warm comfort of my office chair, but it restored my soul just the same.
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Gorgeous pics Julie. I am afraid my walk was only around the shops in town today, so I enjoyed sharing your lovely walk with you. I have not yet got back into the swing of doing things since the Christmas break either. It is far too tempting to sit by the fire! I love your ivy picture especially, but they are all lovely to see. Elaine
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Lovely photos of your walk. All is gray, foggy and snowy here so it was very refreshing to go along with you. Love the horses!
Blessings,
Betsy
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Your beautiful photography takes me to another world. Thank you.
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the frosty photos are beautiful, especially the cemetery and church,
I enjoy to see ground not covered in snow!!!
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I love this post Julie! The photos are so evocative. You do have a very good eye. X.
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So, so lovely! We are sweltering here in Sydney at the moment, very hot & sticky, so it was lovely to join you on your crisp wintery walk through your beautiful neck of the woods. I’m feeling much cooler as a result! Forgive me if you’ve covered this elsewhere but I’m interested in which camera you use & whether you have studied photography or just have a wonderful eye? Anne x
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So beautiful, Julie. It is like you are in Beatrix Potter land. Those pesky things on “the list” are always there, but the scenery or your ability to walk isn’t! “What is life, if full of care, we have no time to stop and stare?” Thanks for letting us come on your lovely walk.
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Beautiful.
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Haven’t seen any snowdrops in Vancouver yet but some of my hellebores are in full bloom. Lovely pics.
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I love the way your pictures capture a view or a landscape, then switch to a thing close to in tiny detail. It really makes you feel like you’re there with you because that is what I’d look at too. The wild rabbits look ever so big! Gorgeous. Thank you for sharing x x
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What a nice walk! I love your photos, thank you for sharing! Anne
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Perfect photos of gorgeous scenery! Thank you for sharing! Our January landscape is barren compared to this, and we won’t have snowdrops until March.
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Sometimes a walk outside is the very best thing isn’t it. Absolutely gorgeous photos. CJ xx
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That was a glorious walk – I feel like I came with you
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Lovely photos Julie. My favourite is the lichen on the tree stump, it looks like a mini forest of frosted Christmas trees. You have snowdrops much earlier than we do in northern England, still waiting for ours to appear. Hope you feel restored after your lovely walk. Looks like the milder wetter weather is coming back so you will be glad you made the most of it. Take care. X
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Each photo was better than the next, just stunning shots! thank you for sharing, xoxoRobin
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You have just made my day, I thought I’d pop by as I haven’t for a while, it was so lovely to see your early morning walk photo’s. We are experiencing one of the longest hottest summers and my garden and surrounding country is scorched to desert, we have had No rain for months and months, your photos have reminded me that this too will pass and life will eventually spring forth from this seemingly dead earth.I grew up in West Yorkshire and after 40 years still miss scenes like these. Thank you and keep warm. xoxo
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Beautiful! I want to live where you live. I do housework. I could live in your little garden room and clean your toilets when they get dirty. ;-D Think about it. LOL.
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Beautiful. Is it weird that I totally thought the rabbits were kangaroo at first?
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what a gorgeous walk xxx
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Great photos!
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Beautiful photos. The snowdrops are well on there. Ours are just beginning to bloom.
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This post is lovely. Your pictures really capture the feeling of a quiet country walk with just you and nature. When I read it this morning I jumped out of bed to look out of the window but sadly it’s not a similar day here today. I might still go for a walk though!
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LOVELY PHOTOS NICE SNOWDROPS
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Ha Donnell beat me to it! i was going to say that the rabbits looked huge, but then when I saw the house, that’s huge too. Love the moss, such beautiful photos,
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Great photos and beautiful nature, to look at, as soon as I opened my computer to study today !
It’s the first post since I’ve subscribed, and it was soooo nice… Loved to pass by, and will certainly return more.
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Thanks for the walk…I’m feeling better too! Do you ever really get your “list” done? Mine just keeps growing. Glad you went for balance & refreshment rather than check marks. 😊
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Thank you for sharing these beautiful winter photographs.
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Thank you for sharing those delightful photos
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Such beautiful images.
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Thank-you for sharing your beautiful photos from your walk. It is cold and frosty in my corner of the US. Sending you wishes for a beautiful week.
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Simply gorgeous photos of your English countryside Julie! I especially love the last one, and the pony too.
I hope you have a lovely week,
Sarah x
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Lovely!
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A beautiful part of the world…and an artist’s eye looking. Thank you.
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Absolutely my favourite kind of weather. We just have rain pretty much all the time at the moment. 😦 Gorgeous photos.
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Glorious x
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Brrrr….-4°…..but what a lovely walk. Thanks for sharing your photos 🙂
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Thank you for taking me on a walk with you! I keep telling myself that I need to get out more and enjoy nature but the cold is besting me and sitting by the fire keeps beckoning to me.
I’m so glad you were able to get out and have your walk. Some alone time to rejuvenate. All the tasks of today will still be there tomorrow, glad you chose to take your walk today. You’ve inspired me. Tomorrow, I shall get out and take a walk and breathe in the beauty around me.
Your photos are gorgeous by the way as well!
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Thank you for sharing your walk. Here it is snow, wind and freezing rain for about 24 hours.
Sounds like you have a plan. Maybe break down the list into steps…and start marking them off one by one.
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Such lovely photos! A genuine delight to see them.
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Lovely, lovely photos, Julie. Makes me want to be there.
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merci pour cette belle promenade dans ce matin d’hiver, très belles photos !!
Bonne journée
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i feel like i just walked with you…..and i had a lovely time!!! thanks for taking me.
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Gorgeous photographs Snowdrops do the heart good.,as does a friendly horse in a plaid blanket . Really enjoyed “our” walk! xx
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Frosty mornings have to be my favourites. The winter world is always just a little more beautiful when it’s frosty and you’ve captured that perfectly in your lovely photos. But you do seem to have less mud in Hertfordshire at the moment than we do in North Wales!
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I just came across your blog by accident, completely blown me over. It is wonderful, I will be most certainly following your blog in the future, very inspiring. I love all your work, as I myself knit, crochet, embroider, sew, bake and paint. I love reading to. So pleased I found you, I wish I could do something likewise. Thankyou ….
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I just came to your site to buy a pattern for one of the little pink dresses from your new batch of rabbits. I guess it doesn’t exist yet? Rats!! Love them!. I had so much fun knitting my first rabbit, I’m making my second. Love all your work. 🙂
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