October has a habit of sneaking up on us.
One minute we’re clinging optimistically to September, wondering whether it’s too soon to put the sandals away, and the next there are leaves on the lawn, condensation on the windows and an overwhelming desire to make soup.
I rather like it.
There’s something wonderfully reassuring about October. The year begins to slow down. The evenings draw in, the trees put on their annual show and suddenly staying at home on a Saturday night feels less like you’ve failed to make plans and more like an excellent lifestyle choice.
And enjoying October needn’t involve spending a fortune on pumpkin-themed everything.
Some of the best things about this month are completely free: a cold morning, a pocketful of conkers, the smell of damp woodland, the first evening you put the heating on and stand beside the radiator like a lizard.
So here are simple things to enjoy this October – one for every day of the month if you fancy it, or simply a list to dip into whenever life needs a little autumn added to it.
1. Go for a proper autumn walk
Not a walk to the shops. Not marching around the block while answering emails.
A proper walk.
Find some woodland, a park, a stretch of coast or a footpath you’ve never followed and give yourself an hour to wander.
October is one of the loveliest months to be outside. Trees are beginning their transformation from green to yellow, copper and russet, and even familiar paths can look entirely different.
Wear sensible shoes. Take a flask. Step deliberately on the crunchy leaves.
You’re never too old for that.
2. Collect conkers
There are certain things that instantly return you to childhood, and finding a particularly magnificent conker is one of them.
Look beneath horse chestnut trees for those glossy mahogany treasures emerging from their prickly green cases.
You don’t actually have to do anything with them.
Put a few in a bowl at home and admire them.
Although if somebody produces a shoelace and challenges you to a game, all bets are off.
3. Bake an apple crumble
October practically demands crumble.
Apples, a little sugar, perhaps some cinnamon, and a generous blanket of buttery crumble topping.
The great advantage of crumble is that it doesn’t need to look remotely impressive. In fact, the more rustic it looks, the more convincing it becomes.
Serve with custard, cream or ice cream.
Or all three. October is no time for unnecessary restraint.
4. Watch the sunrise
As the mornings get later, watching the sunrise becomes considerably more civilised.
Make a cup of tea, wrap yourself in something warm and step outside for ten minutes.
You don’t need a mountain or a dramatic coastline. A back garden, balcony, doorstep or bedroom window will do perfectly well.
Just watch the day arrive.
5. Read a book in one sitting
Choose something short enough to finish in an afternoon.
Put your phone somewhere else, make a pot of tea and settle down under a blanket.
There is a particular sort of luxury in reading for several uninterrupted hours.
No productivity.
No multitasking.
Just you and a book.
6. Make soup from whatever is in the fridge
Soup is one of those useful meals that makes you feel enormously competent.
Onion. Carrot. Potato. Squash. Leeks. Lentils. A slightly tired-looking parsnip that’s been lurking in the vegetable drawer since Tuesday.
Into the pot it goes.
Add stock, simmer until everything behaves itself, then blend if you like.
Lunch for pennies.
7. Have a no-spend day
Pick one day and decide that you’re simply not buying anything.
Eat what you already have. Walk somewhere instead of going shopping. Read, cook, garden, watch a film or tackle something you’ve been meaning to do.
It’s surprising how relaxing a day can become when consuming things isn’t on the agenda.
8. Look for fungi
Autumn is fungi season, and woodland floors can suddenly become astonishing little galleries of mushrooms and toadstools.
Look on fallen logs, around tree roots and among damp leaves.
Some are tiny and delicate. Others look as though they belong in a fairy tale.
Admire and photograph rather than pick unless you really know what you’re doing. Mushroom identification is not an area in which confidence should exceed competence.
9. Declutter one drawer
Not the whole house.
We’re enjoying October, not launching a military operation.
Choose one drawer.
Empty it, throw away the inexplicable collection of old receipts and dried-up pens, put everything else back neatly and enjoy the disproportionately satisfying feeling of having your life together.
10. Make hot chocolate properly
Warm milk in a saucepan and add good cocoa or chocolate.
That’s it.
Sit somewhere comfortable and drink it slowly.
Marshmallows are optional.
Whipped cream is technically optional too, although I’m not entirely convinced.
11. Take photographs of autumn
You don’t need a proper camera.
Use your phone and deliberately look for October: fallen leaves, berries, mist, cobwebs, old gates, muddy boots, glowing windows and low afternoon light.
You’ll start noticing things you would otherwise walk straight past.
12. Have an evening without your phone
Radical, I know.
Put it in another room for a couple of hours.
Read. Cook. Do a jigsaw. Play cards. Talk to somebody.
At first you’ll keep reaching for the place where your phone normally lives.
Then something rather lovely happens.
You stop.
13. Make something with apples
Britain does apples exceptionally well.
If you’ve got a glut, or simply picked up a bag cheaply, turn them into apple sauce, baked apples, chutney, cake or pie.
Or slice one thinly, add a good piece of Cheddar and call it lunch.
Sometimes simplicity wins.
14. Go for a walk in the rain
Not torrential, horizontal, why-did-I-leave-the-house rain.
Nice rain.
Put on a waterproof, pull on your boots and go out anyway.
There is something immensely satisfying about returning home slightly pink-cheeked and damp, taking off your wet coat and putting the kettle on.
15. Light a candle at teatime
Don’t save candles for visitors or special occasions.
October afternoons begin fading surprisingly early, so light one as the daylight disappears.
A tiny flame can make an ordinary Tuesday feel unexpectedly lovely.
Just remember to blow it out afterwards. Cosy is good. Fire brigade less so.
16. Learn the name of one tree
Oak and silver birch are fairly easy places to start.
Then perhaps beech, field maple, hazel or hornbeam.
Look at the shape of the leaves, the bark and whatever is growing or falling beneath it.
Once you know a tree’s name, you start seeing it everywhere.
It’s like being introduced properly.
17. Make a Sunday roast for no particular reason
You don’t need guests.
Roast potatoes are reason enough.
Make whatever version suits your budget – chicken, beef, sausages, a nut roast or simply a tray full of roasted vegetables with Yorkshire puddings and gravy.
Then enjoy leftovers on Monday.
Possibly the best part.
18. Clear out your coat pockets
An archaeological expedition into your recent past.
Receipts.
Tissues.
A mysterious key.
Dog treats when you don’t currently have the dog with you.
A pound coin if you’re lucky.
Once excavated, wash or brush your coat and declare it ready for winter.
19. Sit outside with a cup of tea
Yes, even in October.
Put on a jumper and take your morning tea outside.
Spend ten minutes listening rather than doing.
Birds, traffic in the distance, leaves moving, somebody mowing a lawn they probably won’t need to mow many more times this year.
Ten quiet minutes can alter the mood of an entire day.
20. Start a jigsaw
Jigsaws understand autumn.
They require absolutely nowhere else to be.
Clear a corner of a table, choose something pleasingly complicated and leave it out for a few days.
Be warned: finding one piece at 11.47pm can rapidly become finding seventeen pieces at 12.32am.
21. Make toast and eat it immediately
This deserves to be on the list.
Good bread. Proper butter. Perhaps marmalade.
Eat it while it’s still hot enough for the butter to melt into it.
Toast eaten absent-mindedly over the sink is food.
Toast eaten slowly with tea on a cold October morning is an event.
22. Watch the leaves fall
Find a bench beneath some trees and sit there for a while.
That’s the entire activity.
We’re so accustomed to filling every spare minute that simply sitting and watching the season change can feel almost rebellious.
23. Have a cupboard supper
Before going food shopping, investigate what you already own.
That tin of chickpeas. Half a packet of pasta. Lentils. Chopped tomatoes. Rice. A jar of something purchased with great optimism six months ago.
Make dinner from it.
You’ll save money and feel strangely victorious.
24. Read an old favourite
Not every book has to be new.
Return to something you’ve loved before.
There is comfort in knowing where a story is going, particularly when the outside world feels rather noisy.
Old books can be old friends.
25. Go somewhere at dusk
Take a short walk just as daylight begins to fade.
October dusk has a particular atmosphere. Streetlights flicker on, windows begin glowing and birds make their final commotion before settling for the night.
If you’re somewhere rural, listen for owls.
If you’re somewhere less rural, listen for somebody shouting that they’ve forgotten the milk.
Both are authentic British experiences.
26. Make your bedroom winter-ready
Swap lightweight bedding for something warmer.
Turn the mattress. Find the hot-water bottle. Put an extra blanket at the end of the bed.
You don’t need to redecorate.
A few small changes can make climbing into bed on a cold evening feel like checking into a very inexpensive boutique hotel.
27. Notice the moon
October evenings give us plenty of opportunities to look upwards.
Next time you go outside after dark, actually stop and find the moon.
Notice whether it’s a thin crescent, half moon or gloriously full.
Humans have been looking at the same moon for rather a long time.
It’s nice to join in occasionally.
28. Cook something slowly
A casserole, stew, curry or pot of beans.
Something that sits quietly on the hob or in the oven for a couple of hours and makes the house smell wonderful.
Slow cooking turns cheaper ingredients into proper comfort food and makes you look considerably more organised than you actually are.
An excellent combination.
29. Do one small job you’ve been avoiding
Replace the bulb.
Sew the button back on.
Return the parcel.
Book the appointment.
Clear the pile of paperwork.
Nothing heroic.
Just remove one tiny irritation from your life.
Future you will be absurdly grateful.
30. Have a proper cosy evening
Not an evening where you’re simultaneously watching television, scrolling through your phone and worrying about tomorrow.
A deliberate cosy evening.
Put on comfortable clothes. Make something warm to drink. Dim the lights. Choose a film or programme you actually want to watch.
Add a blanket.
Perhaps something involving chocolate.
There are worse ways to spend an October evening.
31. Celebrate Halloween the old-fashioned way
Halloween doesn’t have to involve spending £40 on plastic decorations.
Carve a pumpkin – or, if you’re feeling particularly traditional and have strong wrists, try a turnip. Tell ghost stories. Watch an old scary film. Bob for apples. Turn the lights down and embrace the slightly eerie pleasure of an autumn night.
And if small witches, skeletons and superheroes knock at the door, have something ready for them.
Preferably something you haven’t already eaten yourself.
Make October a little slower
Perhaps that’s the real joy of an October bucket list.
It isn’t another collection of things we should achieve.
Quite the opposite.
It’s permission to notice the small things already happening around us.
Leaves changing colour. Apples coming into the kitchen. Darker evenings. Cold noses after a walk. Books waiting to be read. Soup bubbling on the hob. The first genuinely chilly morning when you realise summer has finally packed its bags.
We don’t have to spend a lot of money to enjoy a season.
We simply have to pay attention to it.
So choose a few things from the list – or try all 31 if you’re feeling ambitious – and make a little more room for October.
After all, it’ll be November before we’ve finished wondering where September went.
Further Reading: October Bucket List: Simple Things to Enjoy This Month, Autumn Walking: Why This Might Be the Best Season to Get Outside, What’s in Season in October? A Guide to Britain’s Autumn Harvest
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