PYO Strawberries

This morning me and Jemima headed over to Essington Fruit Farm for the first day of Strawberry Picking season. Jemima was incredibly excited.

We had just completed the school run and were both thirsty, so decided to pop into the restaurant for a drink and some breakfast before we headed to the PYO tunnels.

Jemima chose an orange and apple juice drink and I had a raspberry lemonade which was refreshing in today’s heat.

We browsed the breakfast menu and decided on some poached eggs on toast.

There were quite a few items that I fancied having, but this was just a little pit stop before we embarked on our strawberry picking session.

Breakfast and two drinks came to just under £10.

We finished eating and drinking and headed on our way to read the PYO instructions.

There’s only strawberries available for collection at the moment. But there’s plenty of them, so there’s not going to be any fights over them.

After reading the instructions, we headed over to the hut to get our baskets.

Essington used to be my favourite as it was where I went to as a young child with my grandma and we would sit in the field (literally) and pick the strawberries all around us.

At first when I saw that the strawberries were now in poly tunnels I was a little disappointed. BUT once we got started, I began to realise that it was much easier to pick the strawberries when you haven’t got to bend over to get them off of the floor, instead they’re just straight by your side.

Jemima loved being able to see all of the strawberries and unlike previous years when we have been strawberry picking, she understood that we only pick the strawberries that are ready to be picked. Bright red, juicy with no yellow or green bits (the colour strawberries are before they are ripe).

We giggled as we hunted for the best strawberries and Jemima loved being able to carry her own basket.

We really enjoyed our morning and would recommend it to any one.

Just look at this happy face eating the produce after we had purchased it.

Our only tip is to save munching them until you have got them home and washed them. Jemima munched too many and ended up being sick. But that’s how yummy these strawberries are, that she just didn’t want to stop eating them.

There is not only the lovely restaurant (which also do afternoon teas) but there’s a farm shop too which has lots of yummy fresh produce.

Key Details of the PYO:

Location: Essington Farm, Bognop Road, Essington, Wolverhampton, WV11 2AZ

Price: £2 deposit for PYO basket, returned when you buy your picked items.

Website: Www.essingtonfarm.co.UK