Food memories - Blackberry foraging

We had parked the car on the edge of the village in northern Provence. It was summer time, the cicadas were noisy, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the little laneways laden with plump sweet blackberries invited us in. That was five years ago and I remember it vividly: the abundance of sweet ripe fruit.

Blackberry foraging is one of life's most enjoyable pleasures.

For blackberries to be sweet, like all fruit they need to get adequate sun and not too much rain when fruiting.

In north Wales, near the town of Hope there is a park with spectacular views across to Snowdonia, Liverpool, Manchester and the Peak District. The park was formerly silica quarry workings and after many decades has regenerated with native vegetation and animals.

Blackberry brambles were in abundance with ripe sweet fruit. Some of the largest and sweetest blackberries I've eaten. Eating as many as we picked, with juice stained fingers we filled a container, though we could have filled many buckets.

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