It’s nearly time to find out who’s faithful and who’s about to betray everyone else, and Yankee Candle has found a suitably dramatic way to get us in the mood for The Traitors.

There’s nothing more niid-setting than lighting the perfect scented candle, and to mark the launch of Celebrity Traitors season 2, the brand has released two new candles inspired by the show – and you can choose your scent based on which side you’d rather be on. There’s the Faithful candle, designed around the ‘scent of loyalty’, or the Traitor candle, otherwise known as the ‘scent of treachery’.

Both come in black or white wax to match their allegiance, with The Traitors logo on the label. You can also choose between two jar styles, with both scents available in both Signature and Original-shaped jars.

The Yankee Candle x The Traitors collection is available to shop online now, with candles priced at £30. And if you’re genuinely struggling to decide which side you belong on, there’s even a quiz you can take to settle the matter.

So – now for the big question… are you a faithful, or a traitor?

Having discovered HexClad’s brilliant range of pans (and knives) last year, our kitchen appliances and cookware editor Molly is a total convert to the brand’s hybrid cooking surface that is both non-stick and safe to use with metal utensils.

So when we heard that HexClad was launching a range of new bakeware with the same finish, I put my hand up (well… more like thrust it up repeatedly and excitedly) to test it out.

Available now, the new HexClad hybrid bakeware collection has been four years in the making, each piece boasting a PFAS-free TerraBond ceramic nonstick coating that withstands oven temperatures up to a whopping 480°C.

It comes in a six-piece set, featuring two round cake tins (Dia. 23cm), a rectangular tray bake pan measuring 23 x L33cm, a square cake pan (W20 x L20cm), a medium baking sheet (W25 x L38cm) and a stainless-steel cooling rack that nestles neatly in the baking sheet.

On first impression, the edges and corners of each piece are smooth and sleek. If you own cake tins with crusty baked-in batter that has crept into the thin edges (which is nigh on impossible to remove), you’ll totally love this bakeware set.

The round tins don’t have a springform design that would potentially harbour baked-in cake. The non-stick coating on all of them is designed to allow baked goods to pop out without any resistance.

I made a couple of cakes to put the pans through their paces. As our expert reviewer and home economist Helen found in her HexClad 7-piece cookware set review, I, too, loved using the HexClad range.

As Helen says, ‘the design really is very clever, and all foods glide across the surface of these pans.’ Helen was wowed by the cookware, giving it top marks, and I would be tempted to do the same with the new bakeware collection.

Like the cookware range, each piece of bakeware needs to be seasoned before using it. This is neither difficult nor time-consuming. A quick slick of oil and pop them in the oven for a few minutes, and you’re done.

While the bakeware features a non-stick coating, HexClad does recommend that you either butter or oil the surface first before adding the cake mix, or line it with greaseproof paper. In the name of testing, I did both, but I only used strips of paper to see if the areas that weren’t lined released the baked cakes as easily as those that were.

I baked a classic school cake in the rectangular pan and an apple cake in the round pan. On both tests, they passed with flying colours. When fully baked, both cakes lifted out without any resistance whatsoever. The entire range is dishwasher safe, too, and if you can’t wait to take the cake out of the pan before cutting into it with a knife, you can do so without damaging the coating, as with all HexClad cookware.

Throughout its four-year development, the new bakeware collection was rigorously tested by the brand’s product and engineering teams, as well as a host of well-known chefs and restaurateurs including Gordon Ramsay, Massimo Bottura and Clare Smyth. And each piece comes with a lifetime warranty.

The obvious caveat is that it’s not cheap – the six-piece set will set you back £299. While that may not be what an occasional baker might be keen to shell out for, if you’re a regular baker, you might be tempted to stump up the extra for a quality kit like this. Alternatively, they’d make a very generous Christmas gift or excellent wedding present to a close loved one.

On the whole, it’s pretty exciting that HexClad has branched out into bakeware, despite the long time it’s taken the company to develop it. But hopefully this means that HexClad will have more launches in the pipeline soon that we can share with you…

The Cotswold Company has teamed up with the National Trust on a brand-new furniture collection – and there are already a few pieces I have my eye on.

The National Trust Heritage Collection is all about timeless furniture with a distinctly British feel, combining traditional woodworking techniques with more contemporary designs. There’s everything from bedside tables and chests of drawers to an upholstered coffee table that I’m particularly tempted by for my own living room.

Prices start at £199, which feels pretty reasonable considering many of the pieces are made from 100% solid oak. There are two collections to choose from for now: the Upton Washed Oak range, and Chastleton, which comes in Willow Green and Stone.

And there’s another reason to feel good about adding one of these pieces to your home. The National Trust will donate a minimum of £30,000 from the collection to support nature restoration projects in the Cotswolds. The money will go towards restoring wildflower grasslands and ancient woodlands, creating wildlife corridors and supporting the reintroduction of lost species.

So, if you’re after furniture that feels classic without looking dated, this new collection is well worth a browse – especially if, like me, you’re partial to a good solid-oak piece.

The National Trust x The Cotswold Company furniture collection

Will you be picking up any of these pieces today?

Keep an eye out come spring 2027, for more releases from this stunning Cotswold Company x National Trust collection.

When was the last time you dusted the back of your picture frames? If it wasn’t recently, I have some bad news to break – the backs of your frames are, in fact, the perfect hiding spot for spiders.

Most people will agree that they want to get rid of spiders from their homes, whether that’s via spider scent deterrents or removing the things that attract spiders in the first place. While these creepy crawlies won’t cause any harm in the UK, they’re not exactly the most welcome house guest.

Spiders like dark, narrow places where they can hide, making the backs of your photo frames a prime place to lurk. So I asked experts what we can do to stop this from happening.

Why do spiders hide behind photo frames?

‘Spiders are thigmotactic, meaning they are instinctively drawn to tight, enclosed spaces where they have physical contact on multiple sides. The narrow gap between a photo frame and a wall is ideal,’ explains Mosh Latifi, co-owner of EcoCare Pest Management.

‘It is dark, undisturbed, protected from vibration and positioned at a height where spiders feel safer from ground-level disturbance. Add in the fact that picture frames on warm walls attract small insects and dust mites, which are part of a spider’s food chain, and you have a very appealing habitat from a spider’s perspective.’

If you don’t dust behind your frames regularly, they become the perfect hiding spot, where a spider can remain undisturbed. Sounds creepy, right? But the good news is that dusting disturbs spiders, making it less attractive for them.

‘Disturbing the environment behind frames removes the undisturbed conditions spiders need to feel secure enough to settle. Regular cleaning also removes the dusty, undisturbed cobweb remnants that signal to other spiders that an area is safe and established. A quick dust behind frames once a week during spider season in September and October makes a meaningful difference to how many choose to take up residence,’ confirms Mosh.

Regular cleaning will also keep your frames in top shape, too, making this weekly chore a win-win situation.

‘Clean the surface with a soft, slightly damp cloth in gentle circular motions. Clean water is usually all it needs – a scouring pad or anything too harsh can damage the canvas and strip the ink,’ says Julia Kindermann, manager at Custtom.

‘If a piece hangs somewhere naturally damp, near a bathroom or an exterior wall, it’s worth checking now and then that the wooden frame hasn’t started to warp. A warped frame can pull away from the wall slightly, and that’s exactly the kind of gap that gives a spider more room to move in.

‘Taking a print down completely is rarely needed. A quick check and a light dusting every so often is usually all it takes to keep spiders from making themselves at home.’

Deter spiders from your home:

If you don’t like spiders in your home, ensure you’re dusting the backs of your photos for prevention.