Snow at Christmas is something I secretly hope for each year. It never happens. I can’t remember the last white Christmas I had....though DM claims the Christmas of 1971 was a white Christmas. Maybe, maybe not!

This year? Well the Met Office threatened it and here it is - we had hail stones first thing that quickly turned to snow. It’s come down hard for most of the day - enough to make snow balls and chuck them at the neighbours - while they reciprocated in kind!!! Mind you, that was after a hearty bucks fizz breakfast with Santa 1 and Santa 2 - our next-door neighbours, so I think the champers acted as a stimulant in the mischief making department this morning.

After the snow stopped falling, we booted up and went walking - amazing - weird light and scrunchy snow under foot. This is Holman’s Engine House on Caradon, with flowering gorse in the foreground. The dogs love the snow - they skid around as though they are in some mad cartoon snow.….until it starts snowing hard and then they go into slinky mode, heads down and sinking low to the ground. They are really funny. The snow is really disorientating though - and the sheep are hard to spot - they turned out to be the slightly yellowy patches of snow!!!

My day has been perfect in every way - much as I’d hoped for but even better and the icing on my cake turned out to be a phone call from our next door neighbour in Sandhurst who relayed the wonderful news that his wife is on the mend after a small heart attack on Thursday. I am so relieved. I couldn’t ever have hoped for better neighbours than they have been to me and I’ve been worried sick since hearing the news. Get better soon Joan.

So, we are about to set our dinner table and eat our Christmas dinner while the snow is falling once again. Perfect.