Last year I was surprised and delighted to get one fruit from a
butternut squash plant I put in as an afterthought (far too late and not
in enough space) so this year, I grew them "properly" for the first
time. I was quite happy with my crop until I read another post on
here...

Anyway, is there any benefit leaving the fruit on the plants by now?
It's cool and the light is going fast, but so far this autumn it seems
like it will be sunny and reasonably dry for a while yet and no real
threat of frost. On the other hand, the plants are a sorry state with
barely any healthy leaves remaining so it's not clear if being attached
to the plants is doing anything for them.

Is the idea to leave them as long as possible up until the frost, or is
it just as well to take them inside now?

Peter