Chas,
Beautiful photos... first thought when I started looking at them was to send along some form my area... fall color has been pretty spectacular here as well. I'm at the edge of the Cherokee National Forest and as you go up into the mountains the leaves have a wide variety of colors.... Up the Cherohala Skyway that runs over the mountain into North Caroline on the Tennessee side the colors a fantastic... you cross the state line into NC, immediately the color disappears and the leaves are just brown... Think they got hit with colder temps over there than we had on our side... plus the stateline is at 5000+ feet and the colors in TN are somewhat lower than that.
I've only been to the UK once, back in 1981, I attended a PanAm sales siminar and stayed at their hotel.. don't remember the name, but was just off Hyde Park and in June... was a beautiful experience. I think I walked 40 miles around the London area...