And just like that... it's #winter! Very rare for us in North-East England to get autumn foliage AND snow AND sun in the same shot. Fitting for the first day of meteorological winter. Cotinus (smoke bush) and eucalyptus backed by the beech hedge and a whitebeam in snow on a sunny morning.
This amazing beech tree grows in a "Hutewald" - an ancient common forest pasture. Cows from a nearby village were put to graze among the trees - pigs to fatten on acorns and beechnuts. This prevented the rejuvenation of the forest. The bites of the grazing animals often caused bizarre growth of the remaining trees. In this case, just multiple branches. Even cednturies after their last use, these common pastures still can be recognized.