Easter’s early this year and we’re going to be celebrating at home with family from Ireland. They’ve just come from a cold, dark winter and although it’s autumn here, I’m confident we’ll get a nice enough day to eat breakfast outside. I’ve been looking round the shops and put this cheery look together. Let’s keep our fingers crossed it doesn’t rain

When Easter arrives in late March or early April, there is still quite a lot of greenery around so you can count on a backdrop that’s not season-specific. Of course, we lack the baby chicks and daffodils that are synonymous with Easter in the Northern Hemisphere, but that’s okay – with a bit of imagination, anything is possible!

When we were children, my mother would hard-boil eggs in different colours of food colouring and we’d draw faces on them with crayon. Sometimes these simple but meaningful activities can be the nicest part of celebrating an occasion like Easter.

With late-summer blooms still in the shops – and if we’re lucky, still in our gardens – there’s lots of scope for creating lovely Easter flower decorations. A centrepiece is always nice for Easter Sunday lunch and if you make it the right way, you could even incorporate candles to add extra ambiance.

If you have youngsters in the house, why not put together an Easter tree? Find a big twig or branch and spray it white, silver or any colour you like, really. Enlist the kids to make decorations with an egg or chicken theme and hang some chocolate Easter eggs from its branches too – if you think your offspring can handle the temptation!