There is something uniquely magical about Autumn.  Even the season's colours are cosy and warming. Bring your groups for a special tour and embrace all that is wonderful about Autumn in the UK...crunchy leaves, foraging squirrels, falling acorns, warm cider, hot chocolate and roaring fires. Here are some of our favourite traditions:

1) Pumpkins and pumpin-picking. Fun to pick, carve and eat! Pumpkins arrived in Britain in the sixteenth century and were immediately welcomed for their versatility, ideal for soups, pies and roasting. Many rural households were poor and so pumpkins were an ideal crop that stored well and were large enough to feed an entire family. Now we pick pumpkins at pumpkin-patches and carve them for Halloween, but long before that we were hollowing out root vegetables and placing candles inside to illuminate paths.

2) Conkers - loved not just for their shiny beauty but also as a popular playground game. Two players each have a horse chestnut (conker) threaded on to string. They take turns swinging their conker against their opponent's conker, until finally one of the conkers shatters. 

3) Harvest Festival, when we celebrate bringing in the Harvest. Churches and schools are decorated with fruit, vegetables, and flowers and traditional hymns are sung. Harvest doesn't just celebrate the traditional crops in the field such as wheat and corn, it is also about apples, pears, blackberries, hops and potatoes. 

4) Bonfire Night on November 5, which marks the failure of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I. People gather around a bonfire, often with a 'Guy' figure on the top and set off fireworks.

Why not book an Autumn Wild Nature tour to the stunning coasts of Northumberland or the beautiful Lake District? Or explore the South-West and Devon and Cornwall? Alternatively, choose a city break and spend time in England's Historic Cities or opt for a Garden and Castle tour. 

Make a group enquiry today! All tours are custom-designed.

October 14, 2026