After a hectic week of, literally, wrapping things up, it was good to wander and to sit awhile with a hot chocolate and a homemade cinnamon and orange biscuit, topped with sprinkles. Very few creatures were stirring on this week-before-Christmas-Eve day but we were happy to just be there, peace and tranquility surrounding us, as we took a well-earned calming breath.

Creamy-coloured sheep pottered about the gorse clad moorland, starlings chattered and flitted back and forth across the lane before roosting in nearby tall and slender beech trees. Espying a large herd of red deer, we gazed on the majestic stags, their white-tipped antlers shining in the very late afternoon light. The hinds rested on the wet ground and the stags were still roaring. It was eerie to stand and give them our ears, as Exmoor decided enough was enough, and began to cloak itself in the twilight hours.

A lone buzzard soared against a charcoal grey sky; its mewing the only sound to be heard as we made our way back to the car. Just one lone buzzard, but plenty of rooks attacking the roadkill that littered the lanes; a welcome evening snack before bedtime. Single blue-black crows, several individuals, perched atop skeletal shrubs and trees. Their silhouette against the dour sky crisp and clear for all to see, as the thin branches they were clinging to, trembled and swayed in the gentle wind that had begun to blow across the moor.

Time to make tracks along damp, drizzly lanes, where muddy puddles littered the route and clumps of mud sat in the road, dragged there by heavy cattle as they crossed from one side to the other. Time to leave the brown crispy leaves still adorning the new growth on beech stems after hedge laying. Time to be down in the welcoming warmth of The Bridge Inn in Dulverton for a mouth-watering roast dinner and a glass of red.

It was time. 🎄🍷🎄