Nothing screams summer like fresh fat red strawberries. And nothing screams summer fun with the kids more than juice-stained faces and strawberries crushed in tiny palms! There’s not long left of the strawberry picking season so why not get out there over the next couple of weeks to pick some of your own?
Alongside a few punnets ourselves, we’ve handpicked three of the nearest to Skipton and hope your little ones enjoy searching out the juiciest, reddest strawberries they can find!
* Gledstone Gardens at West Marton, near Skipton (approx 7 miles) grows table-top strawberries at their kitchen gardens. This can be a stretch for little ones so might be worth taking something for them to stand on.
* Strawberry Farm, Birstwith, HG3 3AW near Harrogate (approx 20 miles from Skipton.) As the name suggests there are strawberries aplenty here for your little ones to munch and pick.
* Wharfedale Grange, Harewood, LS17 9LW near Leeds (approx 24 miles from Skipton). The furthest away of our picks, Wharfedale Grange is happy for you to make a day of it and take a picnic and if the weather turns there’s a barn for sheltering in. As well as strawbs, there are also rhubarb and broad beans until August 1, blackcurrants,whitecurrants, and redcurrants until August 14, and tayberries and blackberries until August 30. And from picking to pecking - there are also ducks waddling round for extra entertainment!
We’re all no strangers to the fresh weather round here but it turns out that strawberries aren’t so accustomed – they don’t grow up here past the end of July as a general rule. Fruit seasons always vary so it’s always vital to contact the venues first to make sure they are open and have sufficient stocks left before you make the journey out there. It’s also a good idea also to check whether you need to take your own containers to collect in and to get there early in the day for the best fruit.
As you know with toddlers, it’s best to go prepared with a packed lunch and drinks, a camera and sunscreen (hopeful!) or wellies and rainwear. A top tip is to wear old clothes and to take baby wipes for juicy fingers and faces!
Once back with the pickings you could get stuck in and scoff the lot with a dollop of ice cream – or why not make some strawberry milkshake? Quick, easy, cheap and delicious!
200g hulled strawberries
200ml cold milk
200g vanilla ice-cream
2tbsp honey
Whizz all the ingredients in a blender and enjoy!
We’d love you to let us know if there are any PYO places closer to home or any you particularly recommend for children so we can share it with everyone.
And we’ll keep you posted on where to pick fruit for free locally once things start to ripen off a bit more!
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