The common toad just before he hibernates.

The common toad.  Yesterday evening he visited the back door, no doubt he will soon be hibernating for the Winter.

French chestnuts, (marrons/chataignes).

Chestnuts date back to prehistoric times and are a wonderful food source. They were introduced to Europe via Greece. Chestnuts contain twice as much starch as potatoes, and can be eaten in many forms.
The photograph shows the chestnut in it's outer prickly shell and its shiny brown shell, beneath is an inner skin which has to be removed before cooking and eating.They are collected in October in France, and can be roasted, boiled, or ground into flour.

Walnuts in France.

Walnuts gathered in France. The shells in this variety are fairly smooth not thick, and unlike many types of walnuts don't have ridges, so more nut and less shell.  

 

 

The horse-chestnut tree and its conkers.

Conkers is a traditional English children's game,  players using the seeds of the horse-chestnut tree.  The tree was introduced to England from the Balkans in the late 16th century, and the first recorded game of conkers was on the Isle of Wight in 1848. There are now yearly conker championships in Oundle Northhamptonshire in October, also in Ireland in Kilkenny.