SOFT FRUIT

​The soft fruit we grow is what gets our kids, Raffi and Allegra, most excited. Whether it's strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, or red, white or blackcurrants, they’re always happy to come and lend a hand picking, though they often eat more than they contribute. 
We can’t really blame them. A strawberry fresh from the patch is altogether different from the typical supermarket offerings – an explosion of sugar, sunshine and juice.

There’s quite a lot of work to get there. We grow the fruit carefully, mulching the plants heavily with straw and muck from the chicken house which both suppresses any weeds and acts as an excellent fertiliser. And since the blackbirds and pigeons are as keen on the crop as we are, everything has to be covered in netting too. But most importantly we only ever harvest when the fruit is perfectly ripe, ensuring that every berry has time to develop its full sweetness and flavour.