September is a glorious month in the British countryside, especially when we have the weather we have enjoyed for most of the last month. The mornings are cool with heavy dews and diaphanous mists that clothe the valleys and give way to warm sunshine. The light is clear and golden, the air heady with the scent of ripe fruit. Colours change as the autumn advances, the green of leaves turning to yellow, orange and reds, the straw-coloured stubbles become brown as the soil is tilled.