It’s been a bumper year for blackberries, and shepherdmans wife has been out around the hedgerows and has picked two or three pounds of large juicy fruit, initially destined for the freezer, but I await with anticipation the final product. I can’t decide whether I prefer jam or crumble, but in either case I hope that they are partnered by apples from the garden. Fruit in south and west facing hedgerows are fully ripe, and the brambles have been denuded by a combination of birds and local walkers, but in shady spots the berries are at all stages of ripeness.
