For a brief couple of decades in the late 19th century, black jet jewellery was a must-have accessory for the fashionable. Royal interest after Great Exhibition, and Queen Victoria's patronage following the death of Prince Albert created a demand which employed hundreds, exhausted supplies and invited imitation.

The York Ghost Merchants is a quirky shop in the centre of the historic - and reputedly very haunted - city of York, which sells only one thing: their own unique, handmade ghost ornaments. These spooky souvenirs have become quite popular with collectors worldwide.

York Ghosts are souvenirs, made and sold by the York Ghost Merchants in the historic city of York, UK. Since opening their doors in 2019 their popularity has grown - largely through the power of social media - making York Ghosts desirable collectables. This is a guide to some of the terminology around the ghosts for new collectors.

The room of repose, where we rest in peace... It's tempting to take the sleep/death metaphor a touch too far when you appreciate the dark aesthetics of gothic decor in the bedroom.

If you follow some gothic fashion and lifestyle hashtags on Instagram, you'll probably have seen a few beautiful ladies photographed in unusually-coloured bath water: green, red, blue, black... There may be a few manufacturers of bath bombs that achieve that kind of effect, but the one I've heard of is Hexbomb, based in Belfast, UK.

Many small spooky businesses are based outside of the UK or Europe, especially as Halloween is celebrated more obviously in the USA. Delivery can take a while and import costs to the UK can be expensive, but there are some really lovely items to be had. Here I'll list businesses I have bought from.

There are a lot of very small spooky businesses selling unique items to decorate yourself or your home. Most are run by one or two people, and they are advertised primarily by recommendations on social media. Here I'll list ones I have bought from.

For our daughter's Halloween-themed fourth birthday celebration, I made a Candy Corn cake. It was a three-layer cake made to a basic Victoria Sponge recipe, in Candy Corn colours. Never mind that it's April!

To combat the bleakness of being stuck indoors due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and to have fun, some fans of Halloween decided to make 31 March 2020 'Quarantine-O-Ween'; an excuse to dress up and decorate. I didn't want to confuse the kids too much with decorations, but at least I did my hair and put on makeup today.

Curiology - established in 2010 - is a UK based shop which primarily sells jewellery, but also some home decor items. It stocks third-party items alongside its own large range of unique spooky and occult-themed acrylic pieces. It is run by a husband and wife team.

Spooky Box Club is a UK based company which supplies mystery boxes on a subscription or single purchase basis. The contents are gothic, witchy, or otherwise spookily-themed, and the topic changes each month. Items from the boxes can be purchased seperately from their website, but they are much more expensive.

October 31st is a year-round Halloween online shop based in the UK. It imports a lot of its stock from the USA. I have made several orders from there as their wide range includes hard-to-find decor items, homewares and a brilliant selection of spooky accessories.

Some US candy brands are readily available in the UK, others are only available in shops that specialise in importing them. Candy Corn - practically a confectionery mascot for the Spooky Season in the USA - is unfamiliar here. I finally got to try some, and a few other Halloween sweets from across the pond.

Nowadays Alchemy Gothic isn't the only game in town when it comes to affordable and stylish gothic and occult-themed jewellery. One brand I personally really like - and have bought lots from - is the UK based shop: Mysticum Luna.

This year there are quite a few sweets repackaged or adapted for the Halloween market. I bought some from Poundland, Marks & Spencer, B&M, the Co-op and TK Maxx.

Looking for a spooky book to share with your toddler or preschooler this Halloween? Here's a list of books suitable for 2, 3 and 4 year olds which my girls have liked reading. Nothing too scary, and more fun than creepy, including a couple of children's classics.

This year, TK Maxx is one of the first UK shops to start stocking Halloween items, with some for sale in store and online. Their range so far includes glass, ceramic and paper pumpkins, spooky ornaments and candleholders, tea towels and snowglobes.

It's been the hottest day of the year so far in the UK. Today I've worn a 'Lucina Layered Mesh and Leatherette Dress' by Necessary Evil, and a 'Peepers Blouse' by Hell Bunny, accessorised with a 'C U In Paradise Wallet' by Killstar, and a plain black hand fan.

You can buy candles designed to drip artfully. The ones I've seen and bought were marketed for Halloween and to lovers of spooky decor. Red on the inside, and black or white outside, they are supposed to give the impression of blood streaming down the candle as it melts. I tried a few.

I've been talking about selling my jewellery for twelve years or more. Finally, I'm going to give it a try, starting with stocking an Etsy shop. I've got a selection of spooky-themed necklace and earrings sets listed for sale, with more to follow.

Tulips are common spring garden flowers in the UK, and they come in a huge array of colours and shapes. There are a few dark varieties, and one of the very darkest is the award-winning purple-black Triumph tulip: 'Paul Scherer'.

There are a few necklaces I have constructed over the years which have become much-loved favourites. They are more solidly-made than my earlier attempts, and better achieved my design aims: big, distinctly gothic-styled, and something no one else had exactly.

NYX Professional Makeup is an affordable brand of cosmetics. It's not quite the cheapest but its widely available, and everything I've tried - mostly their lipstick - has been good quality. It's a solid choice for everyday wear, without costing a fortune.

Continuing my quest to find the darkest flowers I can successfully grow at home, I planted some Hyacinth 'Midnight Mystic'® bulbs last year. They've been flowering throughout March, and have produced some really pretty purple-black blooms.

Many of my early gothic jewellery purchases were from the Alchemy Gothic range. Although fantastic and gorgeous, their designs are immediately recognisable. Around 2007 I started to construct my own necklaces to produce something unique, but with a similar feel.

I don't often wear printed t-shirts as daywear because I prefer more formal outfits. Some of the prints available from Restyle, Killstar and others are really nice though, and it's a shame to miss out on them entirely. That's why I wear them as sleepwear instead.

The British are famous for talking about the weather, and we do it because it's so changeable (and a bit unpredictable). To be prepared for random rain showers at this time of year, we need umbrellas. Nice umbrellas. Handbag-sized and wind-resistant ones are useful, but large ones can be dramatic.

This album is an acoustic piano-and-vocals interpretation of the 2003 album The White Beyond from October 19 2018. It is performed by the album's songwriter/lead vocalist, Alex Reed.

Pins are a quick, easy and affordable way to customise a jacket or a bag. There are lots and lots of designs available from a variety of retailers, and they only cost a few pounds each. Over a couple of years I've amassed a collection of my favourites.

I nearly always opt for a plain black nail varnish, as I know it's going to match whatever I choose to wear. Dark reds, purples and blues are a good alternative if I have a specific outfit in mind, and this collection has them all.

There is no single brand of perfume which is the definitive gothic scent. There are a few which include patchouli, clove or incense aromas which can make you think of funerals, but choosing which to wear, if any, is a very personal thing. However, there is at least one perfume that's black.

The medieval church of St Stephen's in Ipswich now functions as the town's tourist information centre, but it retains many decorative elements from its time as a place of worship, including impressive monuments to the deceased.

Fancy a lunch as dark as your soul? Try some black pasta. It gets its colour from squid ink and is traditionally paired with or filled with seafood.

Dreaming of a black Christmas? If you aren't prepared to ease off on the spooky life for the festive season, you have a few options for your tree in the form of gothic baubles by Killstar and other brands.

Yankee Candle is one of the best known producers of scented candles for the home, selling worldwide. Their catalogue of available fragrances changes with the seasons, and for the past few years they have included a Halloween selection.

If you think you'll be celebrating Halloween every year, it's nice to buy some decent quality tableware which can be reused over and over again. Lighweight and affordable Melamine plates, bowls and cups are a good option when you have young children.

Ornaments and figurines aren't just the rosy-cheeked, pastel-coloured porcelain statues you see on the Antiques Roadshow. There are plenty of modern decorative items which would suit a dark home perfectly. Nemesis Now has a huge range to choose from.

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) is best known for his sculptures including The Thinker and The Kiss. The Musée Rodin at Hôtel Biron in Paris is home to these and many of his works. There is also a must-see version of his fantastic Gates of Hell.

There's more to Halloween confectionery than fun size multipacks marketed for trick-or-treat. Some retailers make the effort to produce sweets that are far too nice to hand out to kids. One of my favourites is Hotel Chocolat.

Pumpkin Pie is a popular Thanksgiving treat in the USA, and making it is a good way to use the flesh from carved Halloween Jack-o'-lanterns. It's really easy to do, but it can be an incredibly sweet and calorific dessert. We used a basic no-frills recipe.

Pumpkins are inescapably associated with Halloween, and are therefore spooky and fitting plants for any dark garden. This year is the first time I've tried growing them. I had some success, but I couldn't compete with the huge ones in the shops.

Retailers in the UK have started to treat Halloween as a special event, selling more themed products every year. Alongside decorations and costumes there is an ever-growing range of food marketed specifically for Halloween.

On a recent family trip to Colchester Zoo we visited All Saints' Church. Unused and ruined for centuries, it now sits inside the zoo's grounds, beyond the Orangutan enclosure. Not much remains but it was an interesting and unexpected find for us.

Notre-Dame de Paris is a world-famous landmark and renowned as an outstanding example of Gothic architecture. The cathedral's ornate stained-glass rose windows are perhaps its best known features, but it has been filled with wonderful statues and details. A terrible fire in April 2019 caused a lot of damage, but the building is being restored.

Houseplants can lift the mood of a room as well as adding decorative interest. If the mood you're aiming for is on the dark side, however, you might want to look for dark houseplants. They can really stand out in a room, especially when they're positioned against lighter-coloured walls.

Snapdragons are fun flowers. My Nan used to have some in her garden, and when I was small I would squeeze them to make the 'dragons' open their 'mouths'. I only recently learned their sinister secret (possibly because I used to pick all the flowers before they had a chance to go to seed).

Growing sunflowers is a rite of passage for many young children in the UK, competing with siblings to see whose flower can grow the tallest. My girls are too young to appreciate it this year, but I thought I'd do a test run anyway. Especially when I heard that you can get black sunflowers.