In the Bleak Midwinter

A short wintery essay to enchant

A Ramble Around the Field in January

All photos by @country_and_hygge unless otherwise stated

As far as the eye can see, the landscape presents an artful retreat into the wilderness; one of quiet contemplation and internal monologue. Those fragments of thought soon to unfold as stories – a magical narrative.

Winter can of course, be harsh, in complete juxtaposition with its picture-perfect presentations. Cinematic snowy landscapes; a blanket of fresh white, all framed by the ghostly backdrop of distant ancient woodlands blotted by sweeping mists. The vista of cool hues offers up a beautiful silence – its own unique sound bath, while icicles from waters are now frozen into time, holding onto secrets.

The Wolf Moon, visible from noon, waxes high in a swathe of blue sky, one that will later provide the backdrop for many twinkling stars - glitter upon navy blue velvet. Hedgerows and trees are decorated with a crisp and sharp hoar frost that for now, shows no sign of a thaw. Fir trees wistfully hold onto snowflakes – so artfully dressed are those evergreens. Flashes of red berry glistening against intricate white crystals and those deepest greens of the holly bush, that somehow repel the weather.

There’s a stirring of silent wildlife, enduring their constant quest for survival in the harshness of this bleak midwinter. A blackbird perches, lonely amongst the setting snowflakes. His orange beak a rare glimpse of colour against the emerging monochrome world – a landscape of blurry fields, dustings of powder upon bracken and the washed-out silhouettes of oak trees.

Now, once again, there’s that instinctive bristling against the bitter wind chill - that freshness of the breeze. The ground remains hard underfoot - the steady crack of ice and the crunch of frozen grasses mixed with oak leaves punctuating the silence. The sun is preparing its retreat below the horizon, but as the moon shows itself more prominently, the scene embodies the very art of enchantment, and soon, all will be lit by silver, and the stars shall become beautiful souls.