Have you noticed it, too? As the days shorten by just a little each night and the weather turns a little cooler, we suddenly notice the pull… to stay home, to bake something sweet, to make our spaces feel warm and well-loved.

It’s a kind of nesting, really.

Spring seems to urge us to fling open the windows and scrub everything clean, to shake out the rugs, dust and start afresh. But autumn is different. It feels almost as if autumn whispers to us to draw inwards. To light a candle, to put on the kettle, to bring out snuggly blankets and to cook up something hearty on the stove.

Even the things we eat change. Gone are the salads and cold drinks - now we crave soup and warm bread, apple crumbles, cinnamon, honey, the sweet scent of something baking in the oven. It’s as though our senses are seeking out comfort and our hands instinctively reach for the rituals that bring it.

And it’s not just about food, of course. We begin to potter around the house, adding touches of cosiness - from cushions to candles, cute autumn decorations, maybe a new mug... It’s a kind of preparation, not for anything in particular, just for the season itself. Like squirrels hiding acorns or hedgehogs finding dry leaves, we are doing our own small version of getting ready.

Perhaps it’s memory, too, that plays a part. There’s something deeply nostalgic about autumn. The smell of a cake rising in the oven, the flicker of candlelight or just the sound of a movie on a rainy afternoon can take us straight back - to grandma's kitchen, rainy half terms, to the feeling of being safe in bed as the wind and rain howled outside on a night. So we find ourselves baking more, reaching for old recipes, lighting candles, snuggling in a blanket rather than going out on an evening. We lean into the change, without even realising we are doing it. There’s a sense of knowing what we need before the cold truly sets in.