Henley is my home town and as such has always had a special place in my heart which in large part was why I started The Henley Larder – to celebrate our town and all the wonderful food & drink producers that surround her.

I am delighted to have been asked to write this column by Experience Henley to muse on Henley based foodie topics and I hope you enjoy.

I have always been a fan of the American term for this time of year we are fast approaching – The Fall. It evokes a romantic idea of seasonal change that although our beautiful, soft word of Autumn is quite lovely for me doesn’t paint as vivid a picture. There’s something about the idea of the word fall that makes it feel like you have no choice but to indulge in the seasons bounty and I for one am happy to fall deeply into what is a very lovely time of year.

There is always a feeling of renewal or a fresh page in a book around this time, ingrained in us from school days I suppose but I don’t think it ever leaves us. A great time to put plans into action and turn dreams from fiction to fact.

This of course speaks loudly to me as I navigate the journey of the Larder from its bricks and mortar shop to its new online and pop up persona. Striking the balance between allowing the dust to settle but also throwing some in the air to see what lands.

It doesn’t feel hard to find inspiration when you live in a town like ours with history, picturesque views and community spirit embedded into the towns very makeup.

With a new season comes a wonderful change in our local produce. Chatting to Tamsin at Bosley Patch recently we were lamenting on the pleasure that be found from cooking with the seasons. This has always been a part of my food experience growing up and in fact my talented mother Rosalind Cooper, a wine & travel journalist wrote a book called The Wine Year that brilliantly looks at wine across the seasons. It is also she who introduced me to my foodie bible Readers Digest classic ‘The Cookery Year’. An oldie but a real goodie that continues to be my first port of call when looking for seasonal inspiration.

So what are we eating now – a few highlights among many include: apples, blackberries, cobnuts (the native British hazelnut delight), kale, salsify, leeks, lovely knobbly celeriac and perhaps my favourite veg family of all, pumpkins and winter squashes. Have you been to Rectory Farm during pumpkin season? It’s a truly delightful day out to pick your own pumpkin and generally have a jolly family day out. 

In recent years I have been championing pumpkins not to be simply a vessel for Halloween but to try and use the delicious pumpkin itself for cooking. Soups, roasted seeds, curries, risotto – there’s a lot of ways to eat a scrummy squash.

That said, Halloween is a fabulously creative time and this year only due to be more wonderful with new and spooky town wide event Terror on the Thames (Oct 26th) which I’m delighted to be running a charity stand for The Chiltern Centre at this year.

It’s always lovely to see our local restaurants and makers embrace local and seasonal food. One of my absolute favourites for this is The Golden Ball, Lower Assendon whose menu is ever changing to reflect the best the season has to offer and delivered in a clever, enticing and tasty way. I also applaud bakeries like Wild Frog Bakehouse for bringing special products out to match the time of year – I saw a butternut squash loaf available the other day which looked rather wonderful.

And so as we make our slow roll towards the most wonderful time of the year, I’m sorry to bring it up but it is coming and my brain is full of Christmas Hampers to delight you with – lets take a short pause and enjoy this beautiful month. Sit on the terrace at The Angel on the Bridge with a chunky scarf wrapped around you with your favourite tipple and admire the reflection of the changing tree colours in the river. Go kick some leaves. Walk the streets of our beautiful town in the early evening and smell the first of the wood smoke. Hold a conker in your hand just because. Essentially fall in love with Autumn.

Zoë xx