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This weekend we made it to our local ‘pick your own’ farm. Last weekend we just drove around looking for a farm I visited years ago only to find out it had closed! After some research I found the only ‘pick your own’ in the area. We met the farmer and she told us that sadly a lot of the local ‘pick your own’ have closed down and they are slowly all dying out. We can’t let this happen! Baby G loved fruit picking! He was so well behaved. He was totally absorbed, picking his own fruit and putting them in his container, he hardly needed any supervision as we got on with picking fruit ourselves.

We picked strawberries, gooseberries and tayberries. We had never heard of tayberries before, but they are just like raspberries and yesterday I made tayberry jam. Today we had gooseberry custard fool. Yummy! If you would like to go fruit picking, I’ve found a great website that lists lots of UK ‘pick your own’ farms.

On holiday in the village shop Baby G wanted me to buy strawberries. He put his hands all over them so I had to buy him strawberries, but he made a good choice! Normally, I like strawberries, but I don’t love them. Now, Baby G has made me change my mind. I’ve clearly eaten too many mass produced supermarket strawberries, they pale in comparison to the fresh juicy bright gems grown in the next village. No wonder we ate them greedily like sweets straight out of the packet. Yes! My baby asking to eat fruit before cake or chocolate! Woo hoo!

For years I’ve heard chefs say eat seasonal and local produce, my strawberry experience echoes their sentiment. I’m no longer buying supermarket strawberries. Instead I’m planning a trip to our local pick your own to indulge and buy loads of premium fruit at an affordable price. Pictures and recipes to follow.

Have you ever been overwhelmed by the quality of locally grown produce? Please share your experiences by leaving a comment.