Press Here

In a rich, green, rolling valley with views east to the pennines and west to the lakeland peaks, almost every photograph is as hackneyed as a host of golden daffodils

A riverside walk of dappled shade over sparkling rapids mesmerised us. Views of grazing livestock on rolling fields, quickthorn hedgerows and ancient trees plunged us back through 400 years of history. Abandoned quarries, kilns and mills are a reminder that not everything is timeless

Part of the walk was a climb through soggy, broken ground, beneath a high stand of mature Scotts pine, the little-used path lost beneath hoof-prints and standing water. The role of fungal mycelium in sustaining the woodland is made manifest by their fruiting bodies - mushrooms of all kinds and colours, erupting now in this warm damp autumn. I'm no expert but I recognised the obvious fly agaric, and I think this might be a scarlet waxcap. Or it just might be the emergency stop we need so urgently