Blackberrying

Just down the road from my house, in the land between 2 tube stations and an overland railway line, is a patch of scrub land. A chance walking that way one sunny day on the way back from the job centre imparted the knowledge that there were hedges full of blackberries. In central London. Zone 2. Blackberries!

So we went last Friday afternoon, in a gorgeous sunny interval between monsoon style downpours, which have come to define London weather this July. And picked bowlfuls of blackberries, at least a kilo each, with plenty more to ripen in the coming weeks.

I brought my share home and turned half into a blackberry and apple pie and half into blackberry compote, which I froze, for another day. The pie was delicious; tastier in the knowledge perhaps that the berries were free, and from less than a mile from home.

The other day, I discovered a plum tree. Just around another corner from our house, this time in someone's garden. But most of the tree overhangs the pavement. I took Husband there last night, just as it began to get dark. A stealth mission for plums. But they were all too high for us to reach without a ladder. And somehow, using a ladder just seems wrong.

So it will be blackberries again this weekend I think...

{Image by me}