This time last year when it was thick with snow, I rolled a large snowball and left it in the garden. I was really surprised at how long the thing lasted when all the snow had departed - unfortunately I never got to see it through to the end as it was destroyed by our friends’ kids when they came to visit. Never fear though, it has snowed again and during Britain’s ‘Big Freeze’, I took it upon myself to roll another fat one, tightly packing it to ensure a longer life once the snow had left.

Every morning for the last week I have been taking a photograph of it at various stages of it melting. Some days they was hardly any change, others considerably due to the heavy rains. Looking at the photographs I can’t believe how many leaves it picked up when it was being rolled. Today there remains just a pile of them (leaves that is) as we say goodbye to the last snow in Wiltshire.