I've come over all Malory Towers

In the grand tradition of English boarding schools, I have been sent a tuck box - and as is normally required in these circumstances, (along with heaps of common-sense, a good head for heights, and a brother who sends you new tricks to play on gullible French mistresses on Tuesdays and Saturdays) I shared with the other members of my 'dorm' the goodies sent from home - lashings of raspberry liquorice bullets, schoc chocolate, and mint toffee pops. Very much appreciated Mumsie!

We are heading into autumn here, with the first outing of the winter coat already, and these is a sense of things getting just a little more traditional - it may be the fashionable rise of tweed in the magazines, or a shift towards more hearty food on the menu, but it just feels like things are going to get that little bit more English around here.