The Simple Things

It seems odd to think of the tenth month of the year as the start of things. But in older times, when the harvest was safely gathered and the growing season almost done, October is when people spent more time by the fire and began to make plans for the year ahead. This pastime has no less appeal now, it's a good time to weave fresh ideas into your life; try keeping the clocks on summer time to save daylight, maybe do a first parkrun, or switch off (and on again) thanks to a silent retreat. Tempting though a cosy autumn afternoon tea at home may be, the colours of this short but sweet season draw us outside to explore the fabric of town and country on crisp days and…

Afternoon tea doesn't just have to be for high summer; as the leaves begin to fall, an autumn version celebrates the harvest and tastes of the season with a touch of savoury, a touch of sweet. The nights get darker as October goes on, so gather friends for a cosy afternoon of eating, drinking and great company. Swap sandwiches for dainty cheese toasties with a pear crunch. Savoury scones replace the jam-and-cream variety and a creamy quiche is just the ticket before the sweet stuff – spiced biscuits and an apple cake with a hint of cinnamon (scrumping, optional). An apple-and-ginger-infused cocktail provides refreshement and, along with standard tea, try a spiced version that tastes like autumn in a fancy china cup. A sociable way to welcome in the season and…

The autumn light really puts on a show, doesn't it. Even this dyed-in-the-wool summer child has to admit there's something unbeatable about how it filters through the red and yellow leaves, adding a fiery glow to the bright, cool air. It's a final celebration of golden sunlight before the light stretches pale and thin, and the evenings creep far into the afternoons all through the winter. But maybe it doesn't have to be this way? I was thinking about this three years ago, as I was walking through crunching leaves – how there's so much to love with each season, except for the frustrating reality of the lack of sunshine in winter. That's when I decided to embark on a little experiment: as the rest of the country was preparing to…

Most of my encounters with muntjacs are brief blurs. I usually flush them, unknowingly, out of the undergrowth while walking in the woods, leaving us both in a frenzy of heart-pounding energy: the dog-sized deer diving for cover, me trying to catch my breath. So, I didn't expect to look out of my kitchen window one fresh morning in early autumn and see one nonchalantly nibbling at my garden's messy edges. Male muntjacs (bucks) have short antlers, which they shed in the spring, and a pair of oversized canine teeth jutting from their mouths like fangs, used when rutting with other bucks. This deer had no antlers – or visible protruding teeth – so it was a female, a doe. Her russet coat hinted at the changing season: in the soft…

Loving your home, inside and out. Books and treats for you to enjoy. Echo autumn's beauty indoors with some warming colours, textures and nature-inspired treasures Bookshop browse A NEW ENGLAND England: A Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel Taking in estuaries, parks, rivers, woods and more, John Lewis-Stempel embarked on a keen-eyed journey across 12 landscapes that make up England. He's stood at the sea's edge, stretched out in meadows and meandered over moorland, looking and listening for the mammals, insects and birds that make these habitats their home. Elegant, engaging prose adds a poetic lilt to his observations, which take in the tiniest detail – the look of a leaf in late summer or the 'snowflake blotches' on the haunch of a deer – as well as the wider picture of climate change and our…

Woven into the British Isles is the story of our textiles. And traces of this history are found everywhere, from the sheep that graze our hills to the mills that skim our skylines. These threads take us from farms to weavers to merchants and from town and village to all over the world. They've shaped grand civic buildings and humble domestic dwellings; we've used natural resources to power production and brute force to build railways and canals for transportation. There are specific local histories – such as Dundee's jute, Welsh tapestry blankets, and the ganseys of the Shetland Isles and coastal communities. Then there are the specialist trades, such as lace, silk, dyeing and finishing. The following are only a taster of the stories out there – there are many…