These beautiful Weck jar candles from The Botanical Company, which was set up just over the border in Dorset in 2015, and is all round fabulous. They use only soy wax as it's entirely natural, along with either 100% essential oils or high quality perfume oils and cotton core wicks. Not only are these candles good for your eco credentials – they also use absolutely minimal plastic throughout the process – but they also smell amazing. It’s a rare day when we don’t have one of t

Hurrah for apple season, and for the need to wear more layers to hide the cake you’re entirely justified in eating in a bid to keep warm. Mentions of Indian Summers will be glossed over. I recently discovered this recipe in Well Seasoned: Exploring Cooking and Eating with the Seasons by Russell Brown and Jonathan Haley, which was published earlier this year. I have modified it a bit, to make it more of a cake and less of a pudding. It’s got a few stages, but is actually very

(Photo borrowed from Matt's Facebook page as I was too impatient to get to my supper to take one!) As someone who went to school in Bruton more years ago that I would care to remember, at a time when the town wasn’t considered entirely safe after dark, I am more than a little thrilled by the change in fortunes it has experienced over the last few years. It is now a regular haunt for London’s cool kids (except I’m sure they’re not called that) who want to escape to the country