Deer old England

Today was mostly about catching up with family - but also reconnecting with England's pretty little towns, like charming Farnham, brick and flint and slate, narrow streets and golden weather vanes; Esher's leafy suburbs all tile and cedar shingles, corner pubs with quaint names and neat cul-de-sacs; and beautiful Richmond Park: acres of rolling, bracken-clad fields under clustered oak trees where herds of little spotted fallow deer sat in the long golden grass as joggers and cyclists sweated past, heads down.

And then a stroll along the Thames, a heron hunched on a moored barge, houseboats so laden with potted trees and flowers that you wonder how committed the owners are to shipboard life, more joggers and cyclists whisking past under the trees, soccer practice in FF and a man doing tai chi in slo-mo; and a half of scrumpy in the Cat's Back with an eclectic mix of portraits and knick-knacks under a truly authentic layer of dust.