Picket fence peonies

An early evening walk through the village and up onto the hilltop to the small, local nature reserve. The peonies are in the garden of the beautiful, timbered manor cottage.

The day ended with a spectacular thunderstorm: for over two hours, thunder rolled up and down the valley, sometimes close overhead then moving away a little before returning again and again. The forked lightning bolts often darted horizontally or diagonally across the sky above the downs, along with the endless flickering of sheet lightning. I didn't try to photograph it, but enjoyed the spectacle. Fortunately the storm didn't do any damage here, but the next morning we read reports of streets running with torrents of water and homes inundated just a few miles away.