We had our first hard frost on Thursday and I woke to a sugared landscape dusted with ice crystals. These are the mornings we long for in winter, when the garden becomes like Narnia, frozen and glittering, the skeletons of plants magically transformed into icy sculptures and the still-standing grasses into petrified fountains.

Once I had taken my fill of the enchanted garden as the sun rose, I went down to the polytunnel to check on the vegetables we have growing down there. The polytunnel is located on the slope below the vegetable garden and, although it is well protected here from wind – Storm Bert last weekend caused no damage, but brought down a nearby tree – and is south-facing it is also far enough down the slope that by early afternoon, it is shaded from the winter sun by the tall poplars in the wood to the south. The crops inside are protected but, when a frost is particularly hard, the temperature within can still drop substantially and the soft-leaved salads and brassicas can suffer. The thermometer showed the night temperature had got down to -2°C, but there was very little sign of damage, just a few late seedlings burnt beyond resuscitation. Everything else had slumped, but ready to come back as soon as the temperature rose.