Autumn is approaching – time for fleece pyjamas. 
The mornings are preternaturally beautiful at present. Now that our puppy is seven months old and can hold his bladder for the night, my getting-up time has gradually moved from around 5.30 to around 7.15. It’s still pretty dark then but by the time I’ve walked the dogs up the lane to the chasse coops to do their business, the horizon is pink and orange, with blazing contrails bisecting the landscape.
Our neighbour’s field, which held summer barley, has been stubble for some time now and give a huge, wide view of the district – wooded hills to the east and south, the village to the north, hidden behind rows of poplars, and our garden, looking like a dense, solid woodland, to the south. I usually walk the mutts up here for 20 minutes or so in the low-lying tree mist, where they can chase the rabbits, skylarks, and any of our neighbour’s chickens dumb enough to stray too far.
It’s on these mornings that I really notice the nip that has appeared in the air. A couple of days ago I washed my Squall Stadium coat from Land’s End – one of the great things about these fleece-lined, quilted coats is that they are machine washable – but I have also noticed, the past few days, how the wind is starting to whistle right through my cotton jersey pyjama pants.
Hence I’ve just splashed out on a couple of pairs of fleece PJs for the coming season. Only Ebay jobs, but they’re very pretty and in the sort of boudoirish colours that I hope will tone with both my pink bedding and my naked face.
When it comes to PJs, I like a conventional cut with a proper button-front and collar, so that I can flip the collar up to keep my neck warm. It always strikes me as a terrible design flaw that almost all women’s nightwear covers your body but leaves your neck, arms and shoulders exposed – the very places you need coverage. Personally, I tend sleep in a cashmere poloneck in winter, though I have just also bought the new Alize poloneck from Finisterre, which I think will be a useful weight and length. Then the PJs go on the morning.
I am also pretty thrilled with my new bathrobe from German brand Otto Werner by WeWo Fashion. No? Means nothing to me either, but I found it a local shop – one of the few that is very pretty and elegant – and snapped it up even though it’s a mans, too big and cost 112 euros. I was so fed up of my piece-of-shit Habitat bathrobe that snags and pulls at every verse end and which, although quite new, looks 20 years old. Let us hope this one lasts longer.
I feel, though, that it will soon be pensioned off as a dressing gown in favour of my Lands’ End down. We lit a fire a couple of nights ago, and it’s starting to feel really quite chilly in the mornings, though we usually try to hold of using central heating until October. This weekend, though, it will be time to put the curtains back up. We manage without in summer, as we’re not overlooked, but I’m starting to feel the night’s black eyes staring at me round about 8.30 now, so the windows could do with a bit of sweetening.