A couple of weeks ago we changed the clocks, immediately wiping one hour of daylight from our evenings and signalling the official end to our ‘summer time’. How quickly the real winter arrives after that is very much in the lap of the weather Gods, but certainly the much shorter, dark evenings don’t exactly help. So how do we really know when winter is upon us? What are the signals? Is it the moment that we need to use the central heating for the first time, or when we have to put on that extra sweater in the morning? Perhaps it’s more to do with nature itself – the behaviour of plants, birds and insects? There are many different signs that winter is on the way…..

Whatever yardstick we chose, the simple fact is that the weather has now turned decidedly colder, not to the extent of winter frost, but still enough to chill your bones if you don’t cover up properly. There has also been a considerable amount of rainfall which has only contributed to a more damp, penetrating cold, which is altogether quiet unpleasant. In fact it’s hard to believe that only a couple of weeks ago, towards the end of October, that we had a few days still warm enough to entice people to our local beaches. I very much doubt if this will now happen again before next spring.

Of course this turn to colder weather signals the start of our long, arduous pruning season, and without Juan (the member of our vineyard team injured a couple of months ago in a road accident), this year’s task is going to be just that bit more demanding.

A couple of weeks ago we changed the clocks, immediately wiping one hour of daylight from our evenings and signalling the official end to our ‘summer time’. How quickly the real winter arrives after that is very much in the lap of the weather Gods, but certainly the much shorter, dark evenings don’t exactly help. So how do we really know when winter is upon us? What are the signals? Is it the moment that we need to use the central heating for the first time, or when we have to put on that extra sweater in the morning? Perhaps it’s more to do with nature itself – the behaviour of plants, birds and insects? There are many different signs that winter is on the way…..

Whatever yardstick we chose, the simple fact is that the weather has now turned decidedly colder, not to the extent of winter frost, but still enough to chill your bones if you don’t cover up properly. There has also been a considerable amount of rainfall which has only contributed to a more damp, penetrating cold, which is altogether quiet unpleasant. In fact it’s hard to believe that only a couple of weeks ago, towards the end of October, that we had a few days still warm enough to entice people to our local beaches. I very much doubt if this will now happen again before next spring.

Of course this turn to colder weather signals the start of our long, arduous pruning season, and without Juan (the member of our vineyard team injured a couple of months ago in a road accident), this year’s task is going to be just that bit more demanding.