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In a quiet moment, waiting for the Fox to rejoin me - he was doing the washing-up – I switched over to Autumnwatch on BBC2 at 8pm. I hadn’t particularly bothered to find out where the programme came from.

I was stunned by the scenery, the light on the reed banks & water. It looked strangely familiar. Then I realised this year it was from Leighton Moss, an RSPB sanctuary near here. Our first home after our marriage nearly 40 years ago was on the edge of the sanctuary.

 Memories of those early years came flooding back. Suddenly I saw once more the heron we found just outside our front door. We hastily closed the door before that spear of a beak came our way. I saw the owl sitting on the fence-post on Warton Crag, the swift that we lifted from the ground to put in our ivy clad chimney, safe from the local farm cats & other preying creatures, while it recovered from shock. There was the frog that hopped in through the back door. I saw the exotic looking spoonbill we saw on the reserve. I heard once more the bitterns booming. We loved it there & were sad to have to make the move when our tenancy ran out & the cottage was once more needed for an agricultural worker.

These days - & this too has been striking me this week – I’m glad we’ve moved more into town. It’s reassuring to know all our basic needs could be covered by  the shops around the corner, the post office & general store, takeaway or the garage with its small Spar shop, if anything happened to us. The surgery, chemist, library, a butcher & baker, fish shop, supermarket, pub which serves meals are all within easy distance on my electric scooter. We have good neighbours who would help if we need it. Where we live, with our large garden, we still feel semi-rural in its peacefulness. It only takes a few minutes to get to the sea & Morecambe Bay, & it’s not that much further inland to farmland. No, we wouldn’t go back to Leighton Moss, nor Arnside, our other home of over 20 years.  This is a good place to be as we grow older & more rickety.