Fall the right way: Country Life's shopping guide to the very best this autumn

A town and country takeover

If you constantly flit between town and country, Purdey’s Autumn/Winter 2025 collection, the first from creative director Giles Deacon, is a gift of sartorial sustenance.

It has everything you need for your country pursuits — excellent field jackets, tailored tweeds and knitwear essentials — reimagined with contemporary cuts and luxurious fabrics so they are sleek enough to slot seamlessly into your dualistic ward-robe.

It also introduces Purdey’s first House Tweed, a handsome combination of earthy greens, soft bracken and the blue-grey of moorland heather.

Personal favourites include the Orsett corduroy gilet in walnut (£695) and the Clifford wool cashmere sweaters (£995) for cold Sunday mornings (both menswear, but I’m shopping anyway). If first impressions are anything to go by, Giles's Purdey is poised for a town and country takeover.

Best face forward

In preparation for autumn, I spent the summer feeding my face — and the results have me feeling smug. The thrice-a-week indulgence came courtesy of Olverum’s Pure Radiance Face Oil (£80 for 30ml), a powerhouse of active botanicals that packs a nourishing punch.

It includes rice lipids to enhance the skin’s natural barrier, phyto-cannabinoid patchouli to relax expression lines and Olverum’s collagen-boosting, skin-brightening ‘Illumina Vitamin Complex’.

It also boasts a combination of rosehip oil, cacay oil and Bakuchiol — the first natural alternative to retinol that helps reduce hyperpigmentation and fine lines as efficiently as the synthetic compound. It melts into the skin like butter on hot toast and will have your face buoyant and buxom come morning.

Glad to be plaid

Tartan checks have lined Barbour oilskins since founder John Barbour hopped over the Border to South Shields and established his first shop in 1894. However, it wasn’t until 1998 that an exclusive Barbour ‘sett’ was developed, based on the Ayrshire District tartan, where the family name originated. Since then, it has featured in every collection, refreshed with colourways to suit the season.

For its latest campaign, ‘Ode to Ayrshire’, Barbour journeyed back to the sweeping landscapes of its ancestral home, celebrating its roots with a collection both rich in heritage and contemporary in its content.

Classic wax jackets are joined by trench coats, tailored trousers and plenty of tartan touches, showcased by a cast of British talent, including ascendant model Kit Butler, actor Charlie Rowe and countryside cool-girl Edie Campbell. Barbour continues to check all the boxes.

A Penelope for your thoughts

This time of year brings a back-to-school feel no matter what age we reach and with it a memory of dismally ‘uncool’ footwear so clunky it is a wonder how we hopscotched in the playground. Now older, perhaps wiser, there is little I appreciate more than a studious-looking shoe, so Penelope Chilvers’s Bloomsbury collection has spoiled me (from £289).

The limited-edition capsule pays homage to the radical, rule-breaking intellectual artists of the Bloomsbury group, captured in chunky brogues and golf-inspired silhouettes, a flash of carmine leather and punching, fringing and buckle detailing traditional to gentleman’s footwear.

Designed for ‘women dressed for purpose’, they are durable, comfortable and incredibly versatile — ideal for town, country and library, too. I’m honouring the androgynous aesthetic by pairing mine with shirts, skirts and a gentleman’s blazer.

Going for golden

It surprises me how few people embrace autumn with arms as open as mine, although I predict a change in the wind, particularly if it carries the whiff of Acqua di Parma’s new candles celebrating the bounty of Italy’s autunno (£71).

Nocciola is a praline-like pleasure of hazelnuts, bitter cocoa and vanilla flower, layered with fresh foliage so it isn’t too sweet. Tartufo Bianco is Nature’s prized possession in candle form. Earthy, mossy and rich with truffle, enlivened by galbanum, opoponax and pine. Let the harvest begin. £71.

London's bread-winner

After a summer of uncouth sandwiches (strawberries and cream, M&S, really?), there is only one place for establishing some lunch-run decorum: Paul Rothe & Sons.

The unkept secret opened in 1900, providing locals with weekly provisions before shifting allegiance to meet the demands of London’s workforce after the Second World War. Meat on the bone became meat on a sandwich, all handmade and embellished to one’s desires. When asked about his favourite filling, Paul Rothe, the third-generation owner, replied ‘I’d rather give you yours!’, although he did commend an egg mayo with anchovies.

With brimming counters and endless combinations, you can play the culinary architect, quietly guided by the expertise of the construction team across the counter.

Bread-winning has never felt so good.