Autumn is always a beautiful season

Autumn is always a beautiful season with the changes in the colour palette from bright colours to golds, copper and reds. We have a number of wild pheasants in the garden who add a lovely splash of colour as well as being quite noisy.

In our vegetable garden the leeks are growing well. I like small thin leeks not those big fat ones which is why I grow them. The thinner leeks are sweeter and are delicious in raw in winter salads as well as cooked. Winter salads do not have to be a copy of summer salads, lettuce tomato, radish etc. Tomatoes at this time of the year are not worth buying, they are not sweet and sun kissed. Finely sliced red cabbage, baby leek or spring onions with pears lightly dressed with mayonnaise and for added interest of taste and texture nuts, feta, blue or goats cheese folded in make it a really interesting salad especially compared with the soggy cabbage and carrot called coleslaw that has little texture or range of flavors.

We grow lots of herbs in the garden and even in the winter we have mint, parsley, chives and basil in the conservatory. This enables us to keep fresh herb omlettes on the breakfast menu.

Dorset has a number of Christmas fairs which are fun to go to to find unusual gifts that aren't available in shops or on the internet. There are a number of delicious craft gins and wonderful cheese makers in Dorset and a vineyard which has won awards for their champinoise, although it can feel like a forgotten county there is lots to explore and discover