As the September harvest with its late summer sunshine gave away to increasingly damp and cool autumnal weather, we gathered in the last of the crops at The Secret Acre and started clearing down the veg beds.

Here are a few pictures from October and early November’s gradual decent into autumn.

The squashes were brought in to harden up and store, and the last of the apples were pressed and pasteurised for juice. A neighbour bought us an unusual Tromboncino Squash to try (see pic below). The fruits can be eaten when small, like a courgette, or as in our case, can be allowed to grow long and then eaten like a squash. We saved a few of the seeds to try growing a few for ourselves next year.

In the orchard, some final golden fruit were ready to harvest on the Quince tree, making a delicious aromatic quince crumble, and with lockdown lifting we even got back out to the theatre again after nearly two years.