Stourhead autumn colours
Last Sunday morning…..”What a lovely day to go and see the autumn leaves changing colour at Stourhead” says half the Southwest of England!
Thankfully, and unusually for us for a Sunday, we were up fairly early and arrived there around 10.00am. The car park was filling fast. We have been National Trust members for a few months and have been to Stourhead many times before so our visit was literally a quick spin around the lake to soak up the gorgeous autumn colours.
Without a breeze to cause a ripple on the lake and a bright blue sky the reflections and colours were breathtakingly beautiful.
I’m sure everyone has their own preference but we tend walk around the lake in an anti-clockwise direction and, as you walk through the trees you keep getting glimpses of the lakes and reflections. It is a huge estate and seems to be able to accommodate a large audience, no problem at all!
It would be tricky to paint these scenes as any painting may be seen almost too good to be true by way of the colours and reflection. The autumn leaves are always a huge inspiration to me and this year the leaves seem to be falling at the right time. It would be hard to predict after such a dry year! I know our apple tree in the garden has produced an unexpected bumper crop.
It wouldn’t be right to miss the cafe at the end, so it was perfect to round the walk off with a nice coffee and chat. I would recommend setting off early on a sunny autumn weekend to beat the inevitable crowds – we may go back in a couple of weeks, but we have Cornwall to enjoy first. This leaf painting is part of some online tuition that will be available very soon. Watercolour is such a fabulous medium to paint autumn leaves as the colours blend and make beautiful combinations. Please add your name to my mailing list below, to be kept up-to-date with future news.
