Start with the Draughts

Before you spend a penny on cushions or candles, walk your home on a breezy afternoon and find out where the cold is getting in. In older Somerset properties — the kind with thick stone walls, quarry tiles and floors that slope gently towards the door — draughts rarely announce themselves politely. They slip under doors, whistle along skirting boards and creep around window frames.

Work through the house room by room and make a note of what you feel. The usual culprits are worth checking first:

• Letterboxes, keyholes and gaps around front doors
• Chimneys that are not in use — a chimney balloon or draught excluder makes a noticeable difference
• Original sash or casement windows, especially where the frame has shifted
• Loft hatches and gaps around pipework under sinks
• Cat flaps and old external doors to outbuildings

Most of these can be sorted for very little. A brush seal on the bottom of a door, a fabric sausage draught excluder along a hallway, or a simple foam strip around a frame will take the edge off a room within minutes. If you have a period cottage with uneven floors, remember that a draught excluder needs to be a little thicker than you think — a rolled towel wedge under the door is a decent temporary fix until you find something prettier.

Curtains matter too. A lined curtain drawn at dusk keeps warmth in far better than a blind alone, and if your windows are single glazed, a second pair of curtains on a separate track is one of the cheapest insulation upgrades going.

A Blanket for Every Chair

There is something deeply reassuring about a house where every seat has a blanket within reach. As the evenings draw in earlier, layered textiles do more than look inviting — they let you keep the thermostat a degree or two lower without anybody complaining.

Wool is the obvious choice and Somerset is well placed for it, with local fleece from Exmoor Horn and Blue-faced Leicester sheep turned into throws and blankets by small producers across the county. Wool breathes, holds warmth even when slightly damp, and lasts for decades if you treat it kindly. Pair a wool throw with a lighter cotton or fleece layer so family members can pick the weight that suits them.

Bedrooms deserve the same attention. Swap summer bedding for a higher tog duvet, add a flannel or brushed cotton sheet, and keep a spare blanket folded at the end of each bed for the nights that turn unexpectedly cold. Hot water bottles remain unbeatable — buy decent ones with covers and check older ones for perishing before you fill them.

Keep baskets in the sitting room and hallway so blankets can be gathered up quickly rather than draped over radiators. A wicker basket near the door for hats, gloves and scarves saves the morning scramble and keeps the entrance hall looking tidy rather than chaotic.

Switch to Warm Lighting

Autumn lighting is not about brightness — it is about warmth. Look at the bulbs in the lamps you use most and check the colour temperature. Anything marked as daylight or cool white will make a room feel clinical on a grey afternoon. Choose bulbs around 2700K, described as warm white or extra warm white, and the same room will feel entirely different.

Change your habits as well as your bulbs. Instead of switching on a single bright ceiling light at four o'clock, turn on two or three lamps at different heights. Pooled light makes a space feel smaller, softer and calmer, and it is far kinder on tired eyes after a long day.

Plug-in timers are a small investment that pays off all winter. Set a lamp in the hallway and one in the sitting room to come on before you get home, so the house is already glowing when you walk through the door. Add a few candles or a lantern on the kitchen table for evenings when you want the room to feel special without switching anything on at all.

Make the Kitchen the Heart of It

Autumn cooking suits Somerset perfectly. This is the season of apples, squash, root vegetables and slow-cooked meat, and the kitchen becomes the room everyone drifts towards once the heating comes on.

Get into the habit of cooking once and eating twice. A casserole, a pot of soup or a tray of roasted vegetables on a Sunday can carry you through two or three weeknights, and a well-stocked freezer is the best defence against the temptation to order in on a wet Tuesday.

Set up a small hot drinks station — mugs, tea, coffee, cocoa and a tin of biscuits within easy reach — so that making a drink is a pleasure rather than a chore. A slow cooker left on through the day fills the house with a smell that makes coming home feel like an event in itself.

Get the Outside Ready Before the Rain Sets In

Somerset winters are wet, and a little preparation now prevents a great deal of damp later. Clear gutters and downpipes of leaves before the worst of the weather arrives, and check that water runs away from the house rather than pooling against a wall.

If you burn wood, book a chimney sweep before the first fire of the season and make sure your logs are properly seasoned and stored under cover with good airflow. Damp wood wastes heat and lines your flue with tar.

Outside the back door, a boot rack and a lidded box for wellies keep muddy walks from being trailed through the house. Keep a torch by the door for darker evenings, and check that any outside lights are working before you need them.

Small Rituals for Shorter Evenings

The real comfort of autumn is not in any single purchase — it is in the rhythm you build. Lamps on at four, curtains drawn, a blanket on the sofa and something simmering on the hob. Board games, a shared chapter of a book, or simply sitting together without a screen in front of you all become more appealing when the house feels warm and enclosed.

Give each evening one small marker: a walk after school while there is still light, a bath before bed, a chapter read aloud. These tiny routines are what children remember about the season, long after they have forgotten which blanket was on which chair. Prepare the house, then let it do its work — a comfortable home makes the darker months feel like a gift rather than a sentence.