I love Halloween and autumn. I love the colour of the sun against the changing foliage and the crisp fallen leaves under foot. As a child, I enjoyed carving the pumpkins, beautiful ornamental corn and gourds, making scarecrows, and dressing up in a costume to go out into the fading light trick-or-treating. This time of the year is the last "hurrah" before the days become even shorter and the coldness and bareness of winter sets in. There will be dark days filled with holiday lights initially, but then it feels such a long time before the arrival of spring and longer days again. This year, I've been struggling massively, and I've really been unable to enjoy it. Actually, the past few months have been really hard. Am I the only one, or has this whole year felt a little off? Anyway, it's too long to detail here, and I want to focus on Halloween. I found some autumnal treats and decorations around London this weekend.
Where can I buy autumn decorations in London? The markets are a great place to look. This year, Covent Garden has a pop-up shop where you can purchase your full-sized carving pumpkin or smaller pumpkins, gourds, and squash for display. I also spotted a lot of pumpkins, squash, and gourds on sale at Borough Market.
Where can I see autumn and Halloween decorations? A lot of businesses have been dressing their doors for autumn for the past few years now. The branches of The Ivy restaurant are decorated for the autumn as is Peggy Porschens at both of their branches. Flower shops are also a good place to look too. This year, Annabel's in Mayfair has a creepy clown on display, and its eyes glow. It really is creepy! Balthazar in Covent Garden has also decorated with a demon and gargoyles, and this is lit up in red, which is more frightening at dark. There are many other smaller shops, cafes, restaurants, and businesses that have decorated for autumn and for Halloween. Also look in shop windows, such as Fortnum and Masons, for their Halloween displays! They sell a range of treats.
This brings us to Halloween treats! I don't know where to start here as there are so many places offering Halloween and autumn delights. There's too many to include, so I will just include a few. Of course, there is Humble Crumble in Spitalfields Market that specialises in crumble with all of the toppings. They feature quite often because they always do a seasonal crumble that is photogenic. This year's pumpkin spice crumble is served in a hollowed-out miniature pumpkin, and I had mine with frozen custard and topped with chocolate.
Lola's cupcakes sells cakes and cupcakes with a Halloween theme. I photographed these from their little stand in Selfridges Food Hall.
Doughtnut Time always do seasonal doughnuts, and they have several different flavours for Halloween, including these little green mummies. They also sell vegan ranges. Wheelcake Island, located in Spitalfields Market, also do a seasonal limited-time pumpkin filling for their wheelcakes over the Halloween weekend.
Whipped are selling some seasonal cakes and cookies over the Halloween weekend, including a pumpkin spice cheesecake and pumpkin cookies. Whipped are famous for their cheesecake. Not a cheesecake lover (like me), then you will enjoy their cookies.
Peggy Porschen is always a seasonal hit, and they are offering a chocolate Halloween cupcake, and pumpkin-spiced cupcake topped with pink pumpkins (pictured below). You can also get biscuits from them in different autumn and Halloween forms, and I purchased one of the ghost ones. Their cafe is always well-decorated and is a favourite in London.
Autumn mornings bring the most beautiful sunrises too! I photographed this sunrise a few weeks ago on a cold morning.
I also had a couple of trips to Eastcote House Gardens, which is looking very autumnal at the moment.
Let me know if you've seen any decorations or tasted any fabulous autumn treats in London this Halloween.
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