Country diary: the unbroken blue sky ushers in a day full of promise

St John’s Chapel, County Durham: The Weardale agricultural show returns after a Covid-enforced breakDays like this, with unbroken blue sky and not even the faintest whisper of wind, are rare on Chapel Fell. It is so quiet: the only sounds we can hear are trickling spring water and our own laboured breath, after the uphill hike along Harthope burn.Summer is almost over, yet down in the valley there is no hint of autumn. Meadows surrounding farmsteads in the upper dale have regained their lu