We recently had a charming guest at the cottage who had come all the way from Australia - our most distant guest by far. AS you may expect, despite the very comfortable bed, jet lag meant he had difficulty sleeping during the night at first. Not so good but there was an up side for him, and indeed for all of us. As he killed time by gazing out at the gorge view in the wee hours he spotted a fox, and later a different one, using the wall across the lane as a path, and then jumping down to walk through our drive and garden.
We knew we had foxes passing through but had not seen them. But now we are inspired to try harder. And indeed for Christmas Huw got a great present of a Trail Camera - one of those nifty camera trap gadgets they use on some wildlife programs to get images of shy creatures. Weatherproof it can be placed where you want and when triggered by warm bodies moving it takes photos or video, and with infra-red lights it can also work in the pitch black.
So we're hunting our illusive friends, and of course the birds and cats that are busy in our garden (and maybe badgers, and hedgehogs when they emerge from hibernation) . If we get any great images you can be sure we'll post them here.

As with the rest of the UK we've been suffering the seemingly incessant rain. The Somerset Levels get soggy, and the villages further out over South Somerset have had a tough time. But here in Cheddar the Mendip catchment discharges the water from the caves and it flows down the lower  gorge, through Cheddar village as a small river called the Cheddar Yeo. At times like this though the river can swell alarmingly, the series of ponds and lakes in the gorge get very full. Anyone sitting in the Riverside Inn can see the images of how the gorge flooded badly back in the Great Flood of 1968. 
But thankfully the flood defences developed after that bad time (which are very prettily done) do their work and this time the gorge and village generally mostly survived unharmed although pulses were racing for some. The top of the gorge shops were hit a bit, because the water literally came out of the caves entrance (see picture), and the flow down the road was substantial. But only a few unlucky shops and cottages actually had water coming in.
Further up the gorge (where there are no buildings  the water was still significant and the damage done to the road surface, including a lot of rubble dragged out and down, made it a bit difficult to navigate and so they've closed it for some weeks awaiting road repairs. The canny locals do have a habit of driving around the barriers and cutting up and through the gorge. Probably not advisable so don't do this at home!

Well as we clear the fun, food and festivities of winter solstice, Christmas and the New Year, looking back it all really started in Cheddar on the, now well established, "Cheddar Festive Night". Typically on the first Friday evening of December all the shops in the village and the gorge, along with pubs and groups and associations, all kick of the darkest month with light and celebration. 
It seems to get bigger every year and this year they closed off the whole main street  from the cross (in the centre of the village) up to and on through the main gorge area. That is: they closed it off to traffic (not people)! 
Many of the shops are offering tasters, and a highlight for us was starting at the newly opened The Sitting Room in the village by the church. They were offering free home-made soup and mulled wine. In fact mulled wine and cider was a theme dominating the evening as many of the associations in the village seem to set up a stall somewhere on the route serving piping hot spicy brew for a charitable contribution.
During all of this the local Fire Service (who run a responder service from the village's station) drive along the route pulling Santa behind and playing carols. And the small kids love it.
The Festive night is also the cue for all enthusiastic households and shops to switch on their Christmas lights and Cheddar gleams and twinkles, with a big white star hovering above the village courtesy of the local quarry. We join in at Gorge View with the house and cottage duly lit up with LED lights. All we lacked was snow, but helpfully the rain gave CHeddar a break on this lovely night. Now an 11 month wait for the next one.