Encircled by gold

The pond in the gardens was dark by the time we reached it - the sun had appeared, briefly, as we climbed through the Japanese garden, but had vanished behind the hills after fifteen minutes. However, the dying light only served to illuminate the trees, which are beginning to lose leaves but are dying in glory. My extra photo is of a single wonderful leaf in another part of the garden.

Someone asked me today if I spent all my time in Benmore Gardens. Not quite, but when the foliage is so splendid it's a wonderful place to be, and big enough for different vistas every time.

And today we saw two red squirrels ...