How to prep your home for when the clocks go back

From lighting to alarms and from gutters to garden furniture, here's what needs to be ticked off the list 

Daylight-saving time finishes at the end of October (PA/Alamy)

Much as many of us will be welcoming an extra hour in bed and savouring the idea of cosy nights in, comfort food and candlelight, the clocks going back can be a bit of a shock if you get caught out.

The timers come on at the wrong time, and you realise the boiler has been overlooked with such an unseasonably mild autumn — suddenly there’s masses to be done — with that lie-in now at the bottom of the agenda!