Autumn in England

Autumn has arrived in England. Here are a few photos I took in a local park.

This park in Hendon, North London is typical of the small parks which are dotted around suburban areas of London. Located on top of a hill, this park has great views of the area and even of the countryside beyond London.

Meandering through the centre of the park is an attractive avenue of trees which provide welcome shade in summer. I took these photos in late October as the leaves were just starting to fall. There are more spectacular autumn colours to be found in our forests, private gardens and larger parks, but I wanted you to see some typical scenes.

Most of the trees in the avenue are horse chestnuts, like this one. I love the broad, spreading leaves of these trees and their pretty autumn colours. These trees also look lovely in early summer when the they are covered in  white flowers. 

As you follow the path to the bottom of the park you will pass a small pond allowed to grow wild to encourage frogs and other wildlife, a broad area of grass that is used as a cricket ground in summer and an area containing swings and slides for children. There are also tennis courts and a small cafe. 

Many people use the park to walk their dogs or to have a picnic when the weather is fine. As it's on a hill it is also a good place for flying a kite! In the winter its also a great place for sledging. See our ' January Snow' article to see this. 

The leaves of the horse chestnut are large and drooping. This tree is also a favourite with children. In late summer it produces a large, hard brown fruit which we colloquially call a 'conker'. 

You can't eat conkers but for many generations children have collected them to play a game. They drill a hole right through the conker and thread a string through it, held in place with a knot. 

One child holds the conker at the end of it's string. The other child holds his own conker by the string and tries to break the first conker by hitting it with their conker. You take it in turns to hit each conker, until one breaks and the game is over. Of course the one with the surviving conker is the winner!

A close-up of some of the leaves. As well as the horse chestnut there are also some oak leaves, in the top right of the picture. As I was photographing these leaves some children came by with their mother and asked what I was doing. I said I wanted to find a conker to add to the picture, but they laughed and said they had already taken them all. I thought children now were more interested in computer games but it seems that they still collect conkers!

In England we have just had the warmest October on record, but as we now enter November it has suddenly turned colder and the leaves are rapidly disappearing from these trees. In a few weeks these trees will be completely bare.

In Britain we call the season after summer 'autumn'. Americans call the same season 'fall'. If the weather suddenly turns cooler at the start of this season we sometimes say 'It's quite autumnal today'.

The path in this park does not go in a straight line, but follows a curve. We say it is 'meandering' like a stream that flows