Cosy activities for crisp Autumnal days.

The first leaf hits the ground and I get my soup maker out. We love Autumn and everything that comes with it! Over the years I have found a variety of Autumnal activities and days out that I absolutely love to do, so now I'm sharing them with you!

Grab a book and a blanket, time to get cosy.

This is probably my favourite thing to do in my down time, no matter the season. It does, however, hit completely differently in Autumn...it just feels right. Get a hot drink of your choice, light your candles and wax melts before sinking into a cosy corner with a good book and a fluffy blanket. Bliss.

Pumpkin picking!

Skip the chain supermarkets this year and support your local farms by going to a PYO pumpkin event. Take some gloves and some bags, grab a wheelbarrow and get lost in the depths of the pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin for you. There are two sorts of PYO, one where the pumpkins have been picked and sorted into piles or the ones where the farmer opens the gates to the field and you get to fully pick your pumpkin, roots and all. The latter is my preferred.

Pumpkin carving.

What else are you going to do with your perfectly picked pumpkin? (soup, yes, but might as well carve it first, enjoy it for a few days and then make soup!). Put your thinking caps on, give yourself a theme, have a google and then get to work. I find it easier to draw the design onto the pumpkin first in sharpie, scribbling in the bits I need to cut away. This really helps with more intricate designs.

Soup, all of the soup.

I asked for a soup maker for Christmas many years ago and it is still by far one of the best presents I've ever had. I love my soup maker! It does smoothies too but I'm here for the soups. I love going to the supermarket or a farmers market, getting those 'imperfect' veg boxes and making a soup out of them! I never follow a recipe, I always make it by eye and usually make it up as I go. Some of the best seasonal soups are:

• Roasted pumpkin and butternut squash

• Roasted red pepper and tomato

• Pea

• Potato, swede and turnip

• Pumpkin and sweet potato

• Cauliflower (melt chunks of cheese into it upon serving)

Baking.

This is something I enjoy doing all year round too, but again, in Autumn I feel more inspired and enjoy it so much more! I love to do Halloween themed cakes and biscuits. I am no where near perfect, absolutely not. I just really enjoy doing it! Sometimes it works really well (like the chocolate orange spider web cake) and other times it goes terribly wrong (like the chocolate mint spider web cake where I had to make the mint green sponge about 5 times because it just kept going wrong for no reason). As long as you enjoy it that is the main thing about baking, and I find it most enjoyable in the Autumn, but I think that's because I bloody love Halloween and I'm inspired to do spooky bakes.

Spooky films, blankets and biscuits.

This is easier now than ever before thanks to Netflix. There is an endless choice of horror films out there, so grab yourself a plate of biscuits or cake...or both...get that fluffy blanket and snuggle down with either your favourite classic scary film (mine is the original Halloween) or try something new!

Haunted gardens, drives and houses.

Keep an eye on your local botanical gardens, zoo and theme park as they will probably be doing a scary Halloween event. I've been to a few and I've really enjoyed them all! I've done a scary walk around a botanical gardens with a story line and actors, I've done a scary drive where we all stayed in the car and drove around a track in the woods filled with actors and we had a story line to listen to via the radio in the car. This one was bloody terrifying and I loved it! We wanted to go again this year but it has been cancelled.

Boo.

Crisp Autumnal walks.

Wrap up warm, get the gloves, scarf and thick socks on ready to head out and enjoy the crisp Autumnal morning. Take a stroll around the local graveyard and pick some conkers, head over the park with the dog or drive to a local wooded area and watch the wildlife prepare for the colder months. Why not swing by a local independent coffee shop and grab yourself a lovely hot drink for the walk?

What are your favourite Autumn activities? I'm always on the look out for more seasonal fun things I can do!