Alderford Mill in Sible Hedingham, Essex, dates from around 1720, though there was a mill on this site as early as the 1500s, when it was owned by the Earls of Oxford of Hedingham Castle. With its attractive ‘mansard roof’ this watermill on the river Colne was used to grind flour and animal feed. In the 19th century the mill was converted to steam power, later oil, then electric and finally restored to steam and water power after many years’ disuse, reopening to visitors in the 21st century.

If you cross the river and turn right, a footpath signposted ‘New England’ leads past cottages, a pond, and the old railway line, then into woodland, where in springtime can be seen wonderful unfurling bracken and great drifts of bluebells. This image consists of impressions and details from that walk, not a scene that may be viewed from one point. A green woodpecker and a cuckoo call their distinctive ‘yaffle’ and ‘cu-ckoo’ cries.

Corder’s Chase is an old trackway taken by Victorian workers to and from their homes in Sible Hedingham village, and Southey Green Brickworks, owned by the Corder family, a mile or two to the south.

The brickworks is now a private dwelling where the artist lives, and Corder’s Chase is a public footpath sunk into the landscape several feet lower than the surrounding fields. Here crops of grain or hay are grown, and sheep give birth to their lambs in springtime. 'Jack-by-the-Hedge', 'Lords & Ladies', and cleavers grow along the path which leads past a wooden gate into open pasture. Beyond the next gate, White Park cattle graze, while a pair of buzzards circle on the rising thermals above Hedingham Castle, which nestles among the trees on the horizon.

On this dresser live some of my husband Colin’s concertinas and melodeons, as most of our music making takes place in the kitchen. The lower half is actually an old oak sideboard with jars and bottles underneath, waiting to be recycled, and a Victorian brass jam pan on top, with the book I'm currently reading and various bits of overspill crockery. The shelves above display my collection of ceramic hares, some sculptures, some on jugs or plates. There's also found feathers and a badger skull. The top row is part of our collection of Wassail bowls. My 'clutter' lends a lived-in feel and holds so many memories.

My 5-string banjo lives on a stand beside my kitchen dresser when not being played. Here are displayed my collection of beautiful ceramic plates, mugs and jugs, and other treasures. There is a Wassail bowl from Ewenny Pottery in South Wales, where they have been making these sculptural 18-handled bowls for over 300 years. The Wassail Bowl is decorated with the ribbons that fell from my apple tree, tied there for wishes and luck at our Wassailing party.