THERE IS still wonder to be found behind these 400-year-old walls which have enveloped East Riddlesden Hall in seasons gone by.

The light of the day tends to have a beautiful mellowness which can motivate us to make the most of the diminishing daylight hours.

From September 24 to October 10 the hall and Great Barn are going back to their agricultural roots to bring alive the age old tradition of reaping the rewards of the harvest.

The hall will have a banquet table fit to burst with foods of the season and the carts in the Great Barn will be decorated to give a flavour of life of the tenant farmers who tended the land.

The trees are a flame with reds, crimson and orange all varying in depth. Beech trees are at their best, with a final farewell to the season being displayed in rich gold.

The doors to the wild garden beckon you in, where the reward is hardy cyclamen with its grand show of pink. Enjoy the fading scents and breathe in the more earthy damp smells which are pushing through to the surface.

Late flowering lavender breaks the mould with its lingering heady perfume, whisking us back to summer one last time. Fruit trees with branches weighted down with apples, pears, figs and cherries.

The explosion of taste from these organically grown fruits is there for the picking, with baskets dotted around the property to encourage you to sample traditional English fruit at its best.

To gain ideas for your own garden and have the opportunity to gain knowledge from our talented gardeners come along for an informal walk every Sunday 2pm, Tuesday 2.30pm and Wednesday 11.30am until the end of September.

Don’t let the damp weather put you off. For our younger visitors root out those wellies and waterproofs if needed and join us to see what you can create with a stick. It’s the simple things in life that can spark the imagination.

With leaves starting to fall from the trees in the coming weeks the combination of seed heads, sticks and anything else of interest is there to have simple autumn fun with.

One of the team will be leading this fun and creative session every Sunday from September 11 to October 16, with sessions from noon to 1pm and 1.30pm to 2.30pm.

At Halloween join us in half term for spooky stories in a dimly lit room, let your creative imagination run wild and write your very own spells to cast, make a witch or wizards hat then fly off around the garden and follow our pumpkin trail.

Storytelling will run on October 22, 23, 29 and 30 from 1pm to 2pm. The Pumpkin Trail and self-led spell-writing and hat-making will run from October 24 to 26 October, 10.30am to 4.00pm.

The fun doesn’t stop there! On October 30 the Airedale Barn will host two Halloween parties with entertainment and food.

These ticketed events will be available for booking by the end of September, please visit our website for more information closer to the time https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/east-riddlesden-hall.