Winter is back with a sting

Only a few weeks ago I was writing about all the blooms that we had in the garden. The days are lengthening, Margaret is already thinking of gin and tonic on the decking at the end of a working day and the other evening, as dusk drew in, she said she saw a bat circling outside.


It would be extraordinary if one had woken from hibernation so early, but January temperatures were 1.3 degrees C above the norm and it definitely had a feeling of spring in the air. Well, this weekend, it was 3.6 degrees below the seasonal norm and we were bracing ourselves for snow on Saturday night.


I walked Gravel and Holly across the fens to Great Knarr Fen Road on Saturday afternoon and it was certainly gloomy and cold, with the wind coming from the south (normally a warm wind, but not this time. We saw no wildlife except a string of pheasants that Holly put up. She clearly had a scent and charged along the edge of a field putting up one bird after another. How annoying must it be for a pheasant just to have made a nice warm and comfy hollow in the grass, only to have to take to the air when a mad spaniel comes charging along? At least there was no-one waiting to shoot them.


We were going to Sam's on Sunday to deliver his birthday present, so I was hoping the weather forecast was going to be wrong. Tom had called in the morning to say that there were roadworks on Archway and that Highgate was a complete gridlock. He thought I might be going that day, but said the roadworks were all weekend. Max has borrowed my sat-nav after his broke, so we popped to Halfords in the afternoon before my walk to get a new one. I bought a Navman, which was a bargain at £69. It doesn't have European mapping, but it does have lane info (which my old one didn't). 


Anyway, the snow came exactly as predicted on Saturday evening and continued into the small hours. We actually had more than was forecast and it was strange snow, very fine and drifting in the steady wind so that it gathered in unexpected ridges. There has been a serious cold spell in Europe which has brought massive snowfalls in the Alps and even snow in Rome. In Eastern Europe, it has been bitter with hundreds killed. We're fortunate to be on the edge of it.


Advice was to stay indoors and not drive unless it was necessary. Was it necessary to deliver Sam's present, which is already three weeks late? I got up early to take the dogs before setting off for London, so I decided to postpone a decision until I got back. I was the first person up the Whittlesey Road to the cemetery and the snow was soft and very pretty. Into the fields, it was deeper than was comfortable and has also drifted so that in places it was much deeper, with little warning. I learned to look where grass was peeping through and walked there, but often it was necessary to walk by picking up my feet much higher than normal, which is quite tiring.


Gravel and Holly plunged through the snowbanks and skipped across the areas which were more lightly covered. We saw a herd of Muntjac (about eight of them) that looked most put out to be disturbed and there were a couple of flocks of Fieldfare operating in the open fields - slim pickings for them, I suspect. Holly and Gravel put up a number of hares and are convinced they can catch one. I think a hare can run about twice as fast as a Spaniel. Even Holly, who is quite a lot quicker than Gravel (or at least more focused) can't get near one. Still, they seem to find it fun to try.


The best thing about walking the dogs in snow is that they don't need a bath when they get in and the snow makes their fur whiter than, well - snow.


Back home, I was having a cup of tea on the decking (having swept myself a snow-free patch) when Margaret came to tell me Sam had called. He had stayed over at Nat and Tibor's on Saturday and was on his way home. I spoke to him later and we decided that we'd get there, but it was silly to be driving in those conditions when you didn't have to. I think I must be getting old - there's no way I'd have done that 20 years ago. Perhaps I'm learning common sense? We've made an arrangement to go next Sunday instead, so I had a day spent snow-clearing, bird feeding, baking bread and pies and cooking.


As for those flowers in the garden - some will be OK: the snowdrops, crocus and hellebores, but I have lost my geraniums, my lobelia and the delphinium is bravely trying to keep going against the odds. Let's hope winter doesn't last too long.

Tom and Hannah's garden in Shepherd's Hill, Highgate.

People enjoying the snow on Hampstead Heath

I've included some pictures Tom took. One of his garden and one from Hampstead Heath, which looks more like a busy piste in Val Thorens. He posted it on Flickr and Time Out magazine called to ask if they could use it on their website.