Setting a table for autumn

An autumn table should not need explaining. No theme, no centrepiece that blocks the view, nothing that has to be moved before the food arrives. Linen, good plates, a few things from outside and two tapers. The rest is the meal.

Start with the cloth

Linen in a natural colour, oat, flax or a soft grey, does more than any decoration. It is fine if it is a little creased; it looks used and lived with. The napkins can match or not, as long as they are cloth.

The plates need not match either. A few pieces of stoneware, some older than others, look more like a meal someone cooked than a set laid out for show.

Two tapers, in brass

Tapers give height without bulk. Set two in plain brass or iron candlesticks, slightly off centre, so they light the faces at the table without standing between them. On a long table, add a second pair further along.

Our tapers are hand-dipped in pure beeswax and left their natural gold, which sits well with the colours of the season: bread, apples, wine and wood. They burn for about ten hours each, so you can light them early and forget about them.

Linen, two tapers and nothing that needs explaining.

Something from outside

A few branches of turning leaves in a jug, a bowl of quinces or pears, a handful of walnuts in their shells. Keep everything low, below eye level, and well clear of the flames.

Flowers can wait until spring. In autumn, the best things on a table are the ones you might eat.

• A linen cloth, slightly creased.
• Two tapers in simple candlesticks, lit before anyone sits down.
• One low arrangement from the garden or the market.
• Nothing on the table that will not be used.

When the evening ends

Snuff the tapers rather than blowing them out, so no smoke drifts over the last of the cheese. If a drop of wax lands on the linen, let it set, lift it off, then press the cloth between brown paper with a warm iron.

Next week, the same table again. That is the advantage of keeping it simple: it looks after itself.