Excitement ensued as my nieces spot sign after home-made sign for ‘fresh strawberry picking’. It had come at just the right time as tiredness lagged and we were doing all the things you do to try to keep little ones awake on a car journey.
Thankfully, the sight of a large hand-painted strawberry would do the trick, and then another, and another…
Sat in the straw, seemingly not a care in the world, legs crossed, blue buckets by our sides and a gentle breeze slowly billowing through our hair. My eldest niece and I let our fingers skim the green leaves till our eyes caught sight of the reddest, most plump strawberry we could discover. Comparing our finds with such excitement, discarding most into our collection pots, before popping the juiciest straight to our lips, the fruit bursting in our mouths, sheer delight on our faces giggling as we munched away.
A family affair
Our ages ranging from 3 to 66 years of age, yet each of us revelling in our finds and overcome with the sheer sweetness. How could they taste so different to those we buy so often from local shops we wondered? Perhaps it is the notion of picking them fresh from the ground ourselves, perhaps it’s the joy of knowing we had the choice of the crop, the ripest, most flavoursome fruit.
My nieces were giddy, they made me giddy still. They would’ve picked fruit for hours and eaten till their tummy’s ached.
fruit so fresh and tasty even a spider would not cause concern today, it would appear
As we sat on the hard earth between the strawberry plants that roamed for miles, the heavens opened and a summer shower began. Of course, we didn’t care. For this humble activity bought such joy and we were relishing that together. Once our punnets were full, and faces covered in the juice of our not so discrete nibbling, dusting off the straw from our skirts, we made our way back past the raspberries, fruit so fresh and tasty even a spider would not cause concern today, it would appear.
Raspberry picking
Delighting in weighing their pickings, my nieces paid the kind farmer, and we drove home singing the favourite song of the moment, ‘Shotgun’ by George Ezra, at the top of our voices.
What had been an afternoon of strawberry picking and snacking was followed by an evening treat of vanilla ice cream with strawberries, of course.
Two happy nieces and many happy adults, lots of strawberries later 😉
Freshly picked strawberries!
If you live in Northumberland this is a wonderfully friendly farm. With Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries and Gooseberries! It is the Felton Fruit Pick Your Own Farm at South Howdens and is easily accessed via the A1 (simply turn left off the A1 before Felton, you can’t miss the handmade strawberry signs!).
Strawberry Fields, hardened ground from the hot summer but the sweetest fruit
‘Let me take you down, coz I’m going to, Strawberry fields …’
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If you’d like to find out more about the Pick Your Own Farm’s near Felton and Corbridge you can do so here!
