Autumn Light

October 2026

This October, the sun is staying with us a little longer.

Warm afternoons still carry that summer feeling, and the weather is inviting you to go for a walk, spend time outside and enjoy the last of the sunshine without thinking too much about the colder months ahead.

It is later in the day that you begin to notice the season changing.

The evening sky at the moment is spectacular — pink, orange, deep blue, sometimes all within a few minutes. You stop to look at it, and then suddenly realise how quickly darkness arrives now compared with only a few weeks ago.

Here in the south of England, it can still be warm enough to come home and leave the windows or garden door open. That little bit of al fresco living is still there. Yet inside, the lamps are already on.

During summer, candles often move outside too. Pillar candles in lanterns and hurricanes become part of evenings in the garden. Around this time of year, that gradually begins to change and candlelight starts finding its way indoors again.

I am not quite ready for the pillar candles yet. I start smaller, with a tea light and the wax warmer.

I like candlelight and I like watching that little flame. At the moment, I am using raspberry and plum. They remind me of that last generous part of summer, when everything still feels full of sweetness and brightness.

At the same time, autumn is beginning to cover everything outside in colour. Greens are turning into reds, rusts, golds and oranges, sometimes almost from one day to the next. A familiar walk can suddenly look completely different.

Some of that seasonal change naturally finds its way into our homes too. A different plant appears in a window pot, a candle returns to a side table, or the reed diffuser in the hallway that felt fresh and inviting through summer suddenly feels ready for something warmer.

And perhaps that is where we are right now — still enjoying every warm afternoon we are given, while the evenings are beginning to belong to candlelight again.

On that note, enjoy your evening.

Raspberry & Plum — Sweet Surrender