Garson's PYO Farm

J is a member of city car (like zip car) so we've been renting a car on weekends so that we can explore a bit more of the nearby areas.  Our new favorite place is Garson's pick your own farm.  We've been there twice this month alone and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more trips in our near future.  The farm is about 45 minutes south of London and contains acres upon acres of farmland planted with fruits, vegetables and flowers.  The farm is so big that you have to drive out into the fields and then stop at each crop to do your picking.   Depending on the week, the availability of crops changes.

The first time we visited we didn't know quite what to expect.  Our focus was on picking berries - mostly strawberries - but we ended up coming home with so much more.  The first stop on the PYO drive was black currants, red currants and strawberries.

After a few tastes we all agreed that even though Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail love currants, we do not.  We did have fun picking and tasting raspberries though.  The next stop was Carrots and French Beans.  In order to pick the carrots, there were a few small pitchforks tied to poles in the middle of the field.  The kids were besides themselves when we turned up bunches of carrots.


Then on to french beans.  While I love them, the kids have never been into them.  But all that changed when they started picking the beans themselves.  K was out in the middle of the field chomping on a raw french beans declaring "mmm, tasty".  Quite a turnaround.

Next stop was cucumbers, which were the biggest cucumbers I've ever seen.  Sadly they were not the best cucumbers I've every eaten.  The beet root planted next to the cucumbers beckoned as well although I had no idea what I was going to do with them.  But I loved how they peeked from the earth and how easy it was to pull them up. 

Then on to blackberries.  Boy are they prickly.  And such a tease when the unripe berries are so red and beautiful looking.  The kids were good helpers as their low vantage point uncovered lots of previously missed berries. 

Towards the end K had decided it was best to eat the berries rather than collect them in his basket.

Our final stop was strawberries.  Bunches and bunches of enticing, perfect berries.  We picked too many but it was impossible not to.

On our next trip back, the sweet corn was finally available for picking.  K is corn crazy, so I knew he would get a total kick out of it.  J & I had never been to a cornfield so it was a treat for us to.  For some reason I always thought that the corn grew at the top, but in actuality the husks grow off the stalk, primarily towards the bottom half.  The kids shucked their corn right in the field and it took some convincing to get K to wait until we got home to eat it.  In the end we picked 12 ears of corn which I'm pretty sure won't last the week.  We had some last night and it was super yummy.

We also picked runner beans, which C has been talking about for months.  Apparently they make them at school for lunch.  There were slim pickings but we managed to find some good ones.  Now I just need to figure out how to actually cook them.

And of course, more berries.

One of the other reasons why we love Garson's is that they have a main garden center with a lovely cafe serving hot, british food like pasties and bangers & mash.  They also have a gourmet super market next door.  For a day out, you can't beat it.