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The best scented candles for autumn – updated for 2026

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After a long, sweltering-hot summer, I’m so happy to welcome the ‘ber months. I’m looking forward to cooler temperatures, misty mornings, crisp woodland walks and snuggling up under a blanket with a book and a mug of coffee – and with that in mind, it’s time for my yearly round-up of the best scented candles for autumn. I have a year-round obsession with scented candles, but there’s something particularly special about lighting them as the days grow shorter and the nights longer – in fact I tend to have one or another flickering away from the moment I wake up until I head back to bed again. Below, you’ll find my pick of the best, including some old favourites and some new discoveries for 2026. I’ve focused on the kind of scents that appeal to me at this time of year: smoky blends that conjure up crackling log fires, earthy aromas that remind me of autumn landscapes, comforting fragrances that are ideal for cosy nights at hom...
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Room reveal: our calm, cosy cottage living room

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[Advertisement – this post features some PR products, but all words and opinions are my own] I’ve shared a few peeks of our living room in recent posts, but today I’m excited to finally reveal the finished space as a whole. This room appealed to us the moment we viewed our little cottage, as it has two windows and gets lovely light from morning through to evening. But it was also the trickiest space to get right. Not only did it present several layout challenges (more on those below), it had also been stripped of most original features, leaving it looking bland and soulless. Figuring out how to turn it into the calm, cosy living room we wanted took a bit of thought – in fact I spent quite a while mocking up various renderings and floor plans before we even submitted an offer for the house, to ensure we could make it work for us. Here’s what it looked like on the day we moved in:  And here’s how we’ve transformed it...
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Exploring North Wales & Snowdonia

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Back in June we spent five days in North Wales, celebrating Chris’ 50 th  birthday amid the spectacular scenery in and around Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park. It’s a region we’d long wanted to explore, especially as neither of us had anything other than very sketchy memories of our previous childhood visits. And it was well worth the five-hour drive from Wiltshire.  Our trip coincided with one of the few cool spells amid the recent UK heatwaves, and the velvet-green mountains, rolling mists and gushing rivers were a wonderful antidote to the bone-dry fields and relentless temperatures of southern England.  We stayed on the northern edge of the national park at  Hinterland Cabin  – a cosy timber-built hideaway for two, booked through Unique Homestays. It’s done beautifully, with a top-spec interior, an alfresco hot tub, a sauna and an unbeatable location on a remote hillside overlooking the Conwy Valley. Best of all was the ever-changing view, and we loved sitting back to w...
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