Country Diary: Brean, Bristol Channel As we walked the sand towards Burnham, we made out a strange, black shape in the bay

Country Diary: Shaftesbury, Dorset Beyond the hilltop’s headstones the expanse of the vale brings a sense of magic and special place

Country Diary: Henstridge, South Somerset Slow worms like to lie close to the headstones and were vulnerable to predators in the short grass, but now the grass is allowed to grow long, offering shelter and encouraging wildflowers

Country Diary: Mudford, Somerset This roof was made in the local tradition. Its “undercoats” (the original layer of thatch) are probably about 400 years old

Country Diary: Stock Gaylard, Dorset The oak fair is for those interested in timber, woodcraft, the countryside and conservation

Country Diary: Henstridge, Somerset Only a few intrepid bears opted for free fall, but all were safely gathered in by children holding a sheet below

Country Diary: Horsington, Somerset The former turnpike road, winding between hedgerows and through narrow village streets, must cope, not with curricles and landaus, but with intercontinental freight carriers, tankers, coaches, cars and vans

Country Diary: Vallis Vale, Somerset This place once rang with the clang and clamour of industrial toil

Country Diary: Horsington Marsh, Somerset Requirements for success in the county shows are strict, and most of this year’s lambs had either too few black spots or too many, or spots in the wrong place

Country Diary: Bruton, Somerset I needed expert guides to appreciate signs of stages in Bruton’s past to be seen on the way to Durslade Farm

Country Diary: Melbury Abbas, Dorset Dinah’s Hollow is an outstanding example of a holloway, carved out by centuries of wear

Country Diary: Stalbridge, Dorset This stone, locally known as forest marble and of the same make-up as Cotswold stone, is hard oolitic limestone

Country Diary: Wincanton, Somerset Nowadays these contented cows are milked whenever they feel the need by recently introduced sensitive robots

Country Diary: Alhampton, Somerset The owner agreed not to put a price on this lovely stretch of Somerset but rather to make a gift of it to the Woodland Trust

Country Diary: Pitcombe, South Somerset Continuing the long, local tradition of imaginative reinvention to suit the times, at both mills the infinitely renewable flow of water generates electricity

Country diary: Haselbury Plucknett, South Somerset: The binder’s natural element would have been a landscape of homely shapes – sheaves, stooks, handmade hayricks – not black plastic parcels

Country diary: The Somerset Levels: Winter floods and ‘withy wind’ notwithstanding, traditional willow-weaving is still going strong

Country diary: Lamyatt, Somerset: Champagne corks popped at the more elaborate picnics. Small children laughed and leapt in the air