The gift - 978

Wild blackberries (brambles) I found today on my walk around the river with the dogs. Yumm! :o)

When I was a young child my family used to go on a big blackberrying expedition every year. With buckets and stout gloves and thick trousers we would approach a thicket of prickly blackberries (of which there were any number to choose from around the surrounding hills). Even the dog we had at that time would delicately pick the lowest-hanging berries, and we would come home with buckets and bags of berries which Mum would turn into jars of Blackberry Jelly, blackberry pies, and blackberry and apple sponge deserts ...

Nowadays it is hard to find wild blackberries that haven't been poisoned, but I have had my eye on this one plant around the river that has escaped the attentions of the council staff, for a while. This week just a handful were ripe - and they were delicious!