When the geese begin to fly south, the leaves flutter down from the trees and the cold winds begin to blow from the north, the animals of the woods and meadows, big and small, prepare for the long, cold winter ahead when the countryside is hidden under a deep blanket of snow. They gather food and look for warm, snug places in the ground, trees, caves or thickets, where they can find protection against the icy winds.

It might have been hard for the birds and animals of the hillside to survive when the Big Snow came if their good friends, who lived in the little stone house, had not remembered to put food out for them.

Here, in many beautiful pictures, the Haders show how winter comes to the woodland as the busy animals make their preparations.