SUNNYHILL

 Sunnyhill is just southeast of Oxford, and makes organic wine and cider. It also has llamas. I had arranged to meet a friend there, as it’s about equidistant for us. The problem with arrangements involving other people is that it’s harder to change plans when the weather forecast changes. 

Because motorways are boring, I took the A-roads - the A40, which is fun and has some fun twists between Stokenchurch and Tetworth - coming off at Wheatley. 

This is summer, of course, so the signposts are somewhat obscured by overly enthusiastic plant-life. But from Wheatley to Ladder Hill to Cuddesdon wasn’t overly complicated. 

Once there, I barely got into their little cafe before the rain really started to come down. They do serve cake with their coffee, which helps with the thawing and relaxing process.

I feel that Sunnyhill would be nicer in weather that better matched its name. 

I came back on the motorway - boring, but safer in the weather conditions (driving rain, very little visibility, high levels of spray) - and would really like the UK to institute the following 2 road rules: A lower speed limit in poor visibility or bad weather (which most of Europe already has) and headlights on in poor visibility or bad weather. Cars vanish into the spray without lights, regardless of paint colour.