As someone who is affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder, discovering the reason for each season of the year and understanding the importance of each one has revolutionised the way I see what used to be the dreaded autumn and winter and helped the feelings of sadness and doom at the appearance of everything dying in front of me.

Now I see it totally differently.

Discovering that when the trees shed their leaves in autumn, they are not only de-toxifying themselves, but ensuring all the energy their leaves have harvested from the sun stays stored within the tree and means the tree spends less energy throughout the winter.

It also helps to conserve moisture within the trunk to stop it drying out and allows wind to blow through the bare branches putting far less strain on the tree, an important consideration in winter storms and gales.

Thus the tree is in the perfect position for slowly regenerating and bursting forth with new growth as spring gives birth to the new life that has been quietly getting on with growing beneath the mud, frost and cloudy skies.

It was Dame Judi Dench who started it with her 2017 BBC documentary Judi Dench: My Passion for Trees in which she explained that trees communicate through networks of fungi underground and send each other nutrients, supporting each other in a way I could never have imagined.

Judi told us that some scientists maintain that trees can send ‘distress signals’ to warn of potential dangers like disease or insect attack.

There is a whole world beneath our feet that is busying, growing, communicating away all year, even in the bleak mid-winter. The miracle of nature that on close inspection is fascinating.

So autumn has started, and nature is starting to prepare for a period of shedding the old, conserving its energy and lying dormant for a little while before it puts on its yearly show.

I think we as humans could learn from this.

Autumn is a beautiful time as the colours of our landscape change, there’s a nip in the air, the nights draw in and it’s time to get the blankets, cosy fleecy pyjamas, watch the Great British Bake off and snuggle down with a warm comforting beverage.

With Halloween and Christmas looming the dark evenings are perfect for making decorations, watching silly movies, playing games, warm baths and early nights with a good book or box set.

As a bonus leg shaving can be forgotten for a few months as who’s going to see them anyway?

Stews, soups, mashed potatoes and hearty root veg curries as well as multiple cake are always winter comforters after a beautiful walk on one of our windswept beaches with the sea spray misting your face.

No matter what the season, there is life springing and gestating everywhere. Now is our time to rest and regenerate for the next season for ourselves.