Being based in Wales I've had to get used to the weather of this particular part of the world quickly and nowadays the driving rain and unusual mildness of the region bother me a lot less than usual. However, it's always Autumn when homesickness tends to settle into my belly. The weather in Wales gives a perfect climate for ferns and epiphytes, unusual migrant species and tender plants but there's no beating Middle England for the crispness of autumn mornings, sparkling hoarfrost and clear, starry skies.

I came home this weekend for mine and my mother's joint birthdays (within two days of each other) and it was the perfect break after over a month of settling into a new job and a new lifestyle. I've gone from long days spent in the library, guzzling coffee and reading scientific papers to days of kneeling in the muddy borders cutting back perennials whilst the robin cleans up invertebrates behind me, peeling back turf to plant next year's bulbs and tidying the borders to keep the garden looking crisp as it enters dormancy. Although I'd never pretend that horticulture is the place to come looking for rest and relaxation (there's a jar of tiger balm permanently on stand-by and I'm starting to feel a twinge in my knee every time I get out of my chair), it's allowed me to steady myself, recollect my thoughts after uni and centre myself enough to begin to look for that sweet spot between science and horticulture where I'd like to live eventually.