Notes from Nick!

Apple & Blackberry Jam - 12th September 2008

Like many I watched the weekend forecast with some trepidation and rightly so; severe weather warnings were issued for much of Cumbria.

However, the weekend had other ideas, turning out to be wonderful. We decided to catch up on some much needed time in the garden, a rare ‘treat’ this summer.

The highlight of our weekend turned out to be some low cost home shopping, foraging for hedgerow fruits. We wandered up the track at the back of our house; up through the falling leaves of the sleepy oak trees of Bank End Wood, towards the Lickle Valley. We were met by a group of magnificent heavy horses; they were making their slow majestic progress towards the coast.

As we dropped into the Lickle there were blackberries in abundance; we wandered on taking what appeared to be the best of the fruit as we went. Ahead of us a line of fells from Stickle Pike, White Maiden, Dow Crag and onto The Old Man in the distance, bathed in the late afternoon sun.

There was rather too much fruit for my liking; we managed to gather enough long before Broughton Mills and a pint at the Blacksmiths Arms. So turning for home we wandered backed. The autumn sun appeared to have ripened fruit as we had walked but the views out across the Duddon Estuary towards the Irish Sea meant that the fruit was forgotten for a moment.

That evening we made the best apple and blackberry jam; inspired by that special autumnal afternoon.
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Regards Nick