Nutted

Last Wednesday, David and I visited one of our favourite places, a little out-of-the-way Norfolk village called Heydon. It’s a quaint old village, with only one way in and out, and it has a village green (very Enid Blyton), a few artisan shops, a pub, a tea room, a church and a country manor.

Heydon Hall is a private home with a park that is open to the public, as long as there is no livestock roaming the grounds. It’s a treat to go to the tea room for lunch and then walk in the park before driving home again; it’s full of trees, some of which are hundreds of years old, with an oak tree in which Oliver Cromwell once hid from a bull during a visit. There are also beech, sweet chestnut and horse chestnut trees.

On our recent walk, we collected a few pocketsful of shiny conkers. Just as we reached the home stretch, a conker in its protective spiky case fell from a branch and bounced off David’s head with a loud knock. Perhaps it was the ghost of Oliver Cromwell warning us not to scrump the horse chestnuts’ fruit!

it’s easy to fall
in love with autumn colours –
beware dropping fruit!

Kim M. Russell, 29th September 2025

Today at the dVerse Poets Pub it’s Haibun Monday with Mish and we are writing about the fall of the leaf.

Mish says that, for her, ‘Autumn quietly snuck in… more like a sudden push than a gentle transition’.  She also contemplates the seasonal tern ‘fall’, which we don’t use over her in the UK, so I found the background interesting.

Mish would like us to focus on ‘the fall’ or ‘falling’ in our haibun, choosing from her list of themes for inspiration.  I chose the falling of fruit or nuts.

42 thoughts on “Nutted”

    1. Thank you, Mish. We’re hoping to go to Ely on Friday or Saturday, where Cromwell’s family home is. Ely cathedral is spectacular. The last time we visited there was a stained glass exhibition.

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  12. Thank you for sharing what sounds like a delightful autumn day. Even David being hit with the conker (as long as he wasn’t hurt) makes the visit stand out. I love the Oliver Cromwell connection. It makes him something more than the dour man I always imagine.

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    1. I’m glad you liked it, Merril. It was a lovely day, as it always is at Heydon. On Sunday we went to Mannington Hall for the Book Hive Book Bash, where we listened to Natalie Haines talk about the mythological background to her new book about Medea and Jason, and today we went to Great Yarmouth, to the Sea Life Centre and for a game of crazy golf, which I lost – I’m not good at anything that requires a racket, a stick or a weapon! I’m looking forward to Saturdays trip back to Ely, where Cromwell grew up. Btw I am not a fan of Cromwell, I just enjoy history and interesting places.

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      1. Wow–so many fun activities, Kim! You live in such an interesting area. I don’t know what crazy golf is, but it sounds, crazy? 😂 I’m sure I wouldn’t be good at it either.
        I didn’t think you were a fan of Cromwell! You don’t strike me as a Puritan. Of course, you know I’m interested in history. 😊

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  14. I love the coupling of the sweetness of the humor and the falling chestnuts reflected against past horrors related to Cromwell. It’s a very nice poem with lots of beauty and reflection on the past. Thank you very much.

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  18. I haven’t played conkers since leaving decades ago, such fun as I remember so long as you kept your fingers out of it 🙂 I knew about this place through friends but you have brought it to life, and I love the humour, even though it’s at David’s expense 🙂 hard to imagine Cromwell hiding 🙂

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