It’s official; you can smell it in the air, and feel it in the coolness we’ve had this past week, the blackberries have been ripe for a while (we got five freeze-able boxes last week!), and the trees are just beginning to show their golden glow…

Autumn is on its way.

I love this time of the year… the heat of the summer is coming to a close (and this year we have had eight official heatwaves… which is a whole ‘nother issue that I really don’t want to think about it!), although we do sometimes get an Indian summer in September, and that feels like the last burst of summer before autumn officially draws in. Side story, a couple of years ago I was in York for my 30th birthday, and the whole weekend it was 28-31 degrees in the second week of September… that was warm. It made for a wonderful weekend, but it was a little bit weird for it to be that temperature in northern England in September!

But with the start of Autumn, people start looking to the cooler months, Halloween (if you like to celebrate spooky season), cosy jumpers, and homemade hearty soups. I’m definitely looking forward to stews and casseroles cooked in the slow cooker again, which have just felt too hot and heavy to eat throughout the summer. And, with the end of summer, it’s not like we going to run out of stuff to do – the calendar is absolutely packed for September, with plenty more to look forward to in the month’s following. I’ll be doing calendars for October, November, and December as well, pulling out the best of what’s happening in the local area for the rest of the year. If you’d like to keep up with what’s happening, sign-up for free to receive a weekly newsletter.

This time of the year has always been important throughout history. In the Northern Hemisphere it’s the time of the harvest and preparation, and the time to give thanks (whatever that means for different cultures) for food and sustenance before the winter comes in. In Celtic culture deities such as Danu and Lugh were honoured at the time of the harvest, with even more celebrations towards the traditional festival of Samhain, which has a heavy focus on the cyclical nature of life and death, and the transitions between worlds in different religions and cultures. For the Romans, the beginning of Autumn and the harvest brought holidays and festivals honouring the goddess Ceres (Goddess of the harvest), and Pomona (Goddess of fruit trees), amongst others. At the end of the season, the Romans celebrated the festival of Saturnalia, honouring Saturn, the God of time and renewal.

As for me, I’m looking forward to cooler days spent by the sea in Arnside, Silverdale, or Grange-Over-Sands, breathing in the crisp Autumn air. I love getting my jackets back out of the wardrobe, to not worry about overheating in my jeans or my leather trousers, and being able to wear my boots again. Autumn hits different to winter in this respect, because I’m not a huge fan of having to bundle up every time I step outside, but we haven’t reached that point yet.

And yes, sure, it rains more in autumn than it does in the summer, especially in the North-West. It comes with the territory… there’s a saying in Manchester that “if you can’t see the Pennines, it’s raining; and if you can, it’s going to rain,” which definitely has more than a grain of truth to it! Aside from anything else, after the spring and summer we’ve just had, we need the rain – our reservoirs are seriously low, and farmers have been saying that they’re on track to lose about 30% of their vegetable crop due to lack of water. So, in that vein I’d like to invite people to enjoy the rain. Of course, too much rain can be catastrophic, that’s not what I’m saying or trying to invite, I’m just talking about your typical rainy day. Find a way to enjoy it. Remember what it was like when you were a child and you’d splash in puddles and catch raindrops on your tongue, find things to do that don’t require going outside (there’s plenty of them!), and if it’s really not your thing, think about how much cosier the inside of your house or room is when it’s raining outside… take that nap with zero guilt because you can’t go out anyway. Win, win as far as I’m concerned!

What are you looking forward to the most as the cooler months roll in? Let me know, or come say hi on Instagram or TikTok (@thenorthishlass)! I’d love to hear from you…

Until next time, Bryony!