It was a timely reminder that we have now passed the autumn equinox and the nights have started to draw in.

Determined to make the most of Sunday's autumnal sunshine, the Redgrave gang, minus eldest son but plus auntie, nephew and niece, headed off out for an afternoon ramble to walk off the excesses of a rather large luncheon.

Our destination was a beautiful ancient woodland on the outskirts of our village that is full of wonderful native deciduous trees and a carpet of bracken.

Many of the leaves are just beginning to turn golden and with the sunlight filtering through the canopy, it all had a quite magical air.

One half expected to come face to face with Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

After their initial moaning at being dragged out of the house, the kids really started to enjoy themselves.

My niece kept up a stream of patter about unicorns and magical beasts hidden in the woods and how we were bound to find buried treasure, while my nephew checked out every tree that had climbing potential.

My own boys were determined to find the 'wigwams' of coppiced branches we had seen on previous walks and our dog rushed around, delighted to be off her lead.

It conjured up memories of Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Secret Seven stories, especially as we had the place to ourselves and only saw a couple of other walkers during the whole afternoon.

At one point, our sense of adventure overcame common sense and we wandered off the trodden path, managing to get ourselves completely lost in the process.

Taking our bearings from the sun, we headed in what we thought was the right direction, tripping over brambles and through nettles, desperately searching for the footpath but, for all we knew, probably wandering around in circles.

Suddenly the woodland seemed very large and dark, and with four kids and a dog in tow, I was beginning to think that exploring was not all it is talked up to be.

Thankfully, the dog scented out the path home, much to everyone's relief. She may be a soppy little thing at times, but on this occasion her sense of smell saved the day.

Enid Blyton couldn't have written a better ending!