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September in the English Countryside: Slow Living in Early Autumn

I might be biased, but I feel we've entered the very last moments of Summer here in the English countryside. The colourful Autumn leaves on the ground are no longer a novelty, adorning the sides of the road and forest paths. The weather forecast shows lots of rainy days ahead, and the beautiful Quantock Hills are covered in mist and fog in the morning again.

Or perhaps it's no longer late Summer, but already Autumn, which makes me wrap up in a warm jumper each morning and tell my husband off for leaving the back door open, letting the chill in when taking the bins out? Is it time to put the heating on? Not just yet. For now, I’m relying on knitwear, steaming mugs of Earl Grey, and the warmth of YR studio candles to keep these September mornings warm and cosy.

But I think we can officially announce the beginning of the season of mist and fog – my favourite time of the year. There is no more quintessentially British weather in my mind than fog, probably because of my love for Gothic novels set in England, which use fog as a backdrop to create a feeling of mystery and isolation. My Scorpio soul is relishing this atmosphere, and I welcome the comeback of the morning mist and fog with real joy.

But September is not all gloom and doom. Despite nippy mornings and nightfall drawing in, the days can still be sunny and warm, helping apples and pears ripen in orchards across the country. September sun is magical, illuminating cold and crisp mornings and warming up afternoons with golden sun rays, casting long shadows that remind us that the natural cycle is ending and we’re heading into the colder months.

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September is a month of transformation in the English countryside. If you've seen my first September vlog, you've already heard me say that one of my favourite things about this month is how much changes in nature. The beginning of September can still feel Summer-ish, especially to those who don't want to let go of the Summer vibes, but by the end of this month, there will be no denying that Autumn has arrived. I can already smell the change. The forest smells different than it does in the Summer months – a wild mushroom scent fills the air, and this week, Andrei and I smelled it strongly for the first time.

The smell of wild fungi and mushrooms brings so many memories. In my childhood years, every September my family would go mushroom picking in the forest – it’s an Eastern European thing; not sure if it’s practised here in the UK or in the US? You can absolutely buy mushrooms in the shops in Poland, but in my family, it has been a tradition that, unfortunately, will die with me. I don’t have enough knowledge about wild fungi, and I’m not much into foraging to carry on the tradition.

The smell of mushrooms in the forest in September will always remind me of my dad with his basket and my mum in her sporty outfit, which she only wore for walks in the forest (my mum, in her youth, was always a very elegant woman known for her bright red lipstick and great fashion sense). They would wake me up at 3 or 4 am, and we would drive to the forest, often an hour or more away, to pick porcini mushrooms my parents would later pickle with vinegar and dry for bigos (a Polish dish made of cabbage, meat, and mushrooms) for Christmas. I’m not sure why you need to be in the forest at sunrise, but my parents believed this was the best time to pick mushrooms, hence such an early wake-up. We would walk for a few hours until our baskets were full, and afterwards, we would have a picnic by the car – homemade ham sandwiches and lemon tea from the thermos.

Ahh, writing this has made me all nostalgic, but isn't nostalgia the mood of September? The end of carefree Summer, the back-to-school vibe, even if it's been many years since you attended school yourself – the feeling is still there. At least for me. After the heightened Summer energy, it feels like September brings back order and calm.

And here in the English countryside, September is spectacularly beautiful. The misty mornings, golden afternoons, the changing colours of the landscape, and the shift in nature’s pace encourage us to slow down our own tempo and admire the beauty of the natural world. Stone cottages set in quaint villages feel like the cosiest places on earth, with the first fires of the season being lit and smoke rising from the chimneys. Once the new school year rush is over and the children are settled in their classrooms, we can take a deep breath and appreciate the slowness and quietness that September brings.

Thank you for reading,
Adriana x