2024: A Retrospective II

Part Two

Welcome to The Autumn Chronicles, a place to shine a light on all the wonder around us as we navigate the seasons. I hope these writings allow you to sit quietly with a cup of something warm and comforting and take a few moments for yourself away from the rush and hurry. If you would like to make sure you get all newsletters directly to your inbox, please subscribe below. Thank you for being here. All photos © The Autumn Chronicles.

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Following on from last week’s post, here is the continuation of my 2024 retrospective. This post contains the months from July to December as the culmination to my review of the year. If you would like to catch up on Part One, you can find it here:

2024 has taught me a lot and I am grateful to have had another opportunity to experience all that this life has to offer. My hope for 2025 is to continue to build - to enter a new decade feeling more comfortable in my own skin, with a better understanding of what makes me happy and of how I can achieve that. When my husband’s uncle died recently, his wife told us that she felt lucky because she had felt true contentment in their life together. Ultimately, I believe that contentment with what you have is the defining element to being truly happy, and to seek and find how best to bring that into our own lives is the most meaningful journey we can undertake.

To wrap up the year, here are the remaining stories from 2024 that accompany the snapshots that will mark each month of 2025.

July

View from the roof terrace, London. June 2024.

This photo was taken from a roof terrace in London on a beautiful summer’s day. I love how the steel, glass and stone of the buildings in the background juxtapose against the colour of the flowers in the foreground and the blue sky shot with clouds above. London is full of contradictions like this: ancient against modern, construction against nature, drab against vivid, joyful against melancholy, excitement against mundane. This is part of the reason I find it so compelling; where there is contradiction, there is always something new to discover and it is this curiosity for learning and understanding the world that I most want to carry with me into my 40s.

August

Bruges, Belgium. September 2024.

As part of our stop in Belgium during the cruise (see Part One), we spent the day in Bruges. I had been to Bruges before but it had been ten years (almost to the day) since my last visit. This photo was taken from the Minnewaterbrug, which, during our visit, was covered in gorgeous pink, purple and white flowers. Also known as the Lover’s Bridge, the legend is that if you walk across the bridge with the person you love, you will be together eternally. I walked across the bridge arm in arm with my husband so, here’s hoping. We arrived quite early in the morning, which was wonderful because we had some time to wander around the winding cobblestone streets as the town came to life and before the inevitable influx of other tourists. I was very excited because I discovered an outpost of Dille & Kamille, a Dutch homewares shop that I first discovered on a trip to Amsterdam a few years ago, and where I bought lots of lovely items for my autumn display. I can’t wait to build the display next year and remember this trip with fondness.

September

Amersham, Buckinghamshire. October 2024.

My husband and I were on our way to dinner when I made him pull over by the side of the road so I could take this photo. He is used to this and has become very good at finding laybys where he can stop safely that still enable me to preserve the view. The dinner we were on our way to was to celebrate twelve years since the day we decided that we were in a relationship because I am firmly of the belief that we should take the opportunity to celebrate all the small moments we can. At that dinner twelve years ago, we shared a tarte tatin. At this dinner twelve years later, we shared a sunset. We are so lucky to live in a part of the country where we are within such easy reach of a major city but also have such gorgeous countryside a short drive away - and such simple pleasures to enjoy.

October

Savill Garden, Windsor, Berkshire. October 2024.

I may be approaching a big birthday next year but, in truth, I’ve aspired to a slower, more intentional life for a long time. As part of our trips to Windsor, we sometimes find ourselves meandering around the delights of Savill Garden. Late spring and autumn are my favourite times to visit because in autumn, the colours are vibrant, layered with rich, metallic tones as the green gives way to bronze and gold. In spring, there is something magical about the scent of flowers on a warm breeze and, as the warm weather picks up, there is a fabulous rose garden planted in a spiral with a viewing platform at its centre designed to look like the prow of a ship. There is also a lovely cafe there which is the perfect place for a weekend coffee and some people watching, and a gift shop where I could (and do) while away many hours.

November

Chipstead, Surrey. October 2024.

This photo is another example of a sunset taken from the side of the road. We were on our way to visit family when we drove past a turning that gave onto this wonderful view. I clambered up a muddy bank on the side of the road and then climbed onto the stump of a tree to take the photo, proving once and for all my absolute dedication to a sunset shot. I love the way the scene looks almost pastoral, with the green fields and the sun sinking behind the trees. There is a sense of peace and stillness and there are still hints of the colour and vividness of late summer even though this photo was taken in the middle of autumn. I also love how the road to the right hand side of the shot leads into the distance and draws your eye to the centre of the frame where the sun is sinking into the hills.

December

Soho, London. November 2023.

This photo is an outlier as it was actually taken in 2023. I loved the photo so I wanted to include it as the December image because I like the interplay of the Christmas lights against the more brutalist appearance of the buildings behind and the sense of perspective that is provided by the people in the foreground. Christmas in London is a magical time and one of my favourite activities of the year is to do a Christmas light walk around the centre of town with a compulsory pub stop for mulled wine to warm chilled fingers. Christmas or not, walking in this city is one of the major love affairs of my existence thus far and there is so much to be learnt from observing the slices of life that surround you as you navigate your way through streets familiar and unknown. I find it fascinating just to watch how people interact with the spaces that surround them and I hope that 2025 affords me more opportunities to spend time wandering around, soaking up the atmosphere and discovering parts of the city that aren’t as familiar to me.

I’d love to know: what are your intentions for the coming year?

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