The heat of summer still lingers like a humid hangover, but the signs of autumn are around us. Hawthorns parade bright red berries; acorns form in oaks along the path and blackberry bushes shimmy their fruit at us as we walk. Lavender lady daisies line up and wave us towards the canal and after the jingle of the drawbridge underfoot and a clatter of a gate, a small white caravan peaks out above dense green nettles and brambles.