Blackberry Picking

One of the features of my allotment which first really drew me to like the plot was a large bramble hedge. It was last autumn and at that time it was overgrown but loaded with ripe blackberries. I have now tamed it but it is still filled with berries. On our trip to the allotment last night we picked a box full of them and some apples to go with them.

Picking blackberries and apples has special memories for me. As a child on holiday in Dorset we would spend afternoons on the heaths and hill forts picking them. Later mum and nan would make apple and blackberry pies for us to eat for pudding. My grandad bought a walking stick on our holidays especially so he could use the curved handle to pull down hard to reach stems of blackberries! Happy and precious days.