Country diary: A family ritual, a familiar route | Nicola Chester

Hungerford to Inkpen, Berkshire: This year's end-of-term walk home from school takes me past the summer fair, mahogany thoroughbreds and a surprise yellow wagtailTaking the long walk from secondary school, across the fields and home, is something of a rite of passage for our children post-GCSEs. Now, after 11 years of secondary school parenting, our youngest has left, although as school librarian, I'm staying on. She intended to do the walk after her last exam, but it's been tough for her. So I walk home on her behalf.In the late afternoon heat, my satchel slung over my shoulder, I step over the road and on to the common. A golden-mauve haze of grass pollen underscores an intriguing tableau: the fair has pitched up and the cows have formed a jostling queue around it. The showmen, showwomen and their families have come out to greet them, and discourage them from stepping on to the Wurlitzer. Continue reading...