Craft club PYO and preserve making

gaijingirl · Apr 21, 2006

Just been scouting around some places for us to go on a pick your own day trip..

This place is 1hour 23mins from Brixton train station and 1.3 miles walk at the other end! There's a calendar on the home page showing what's ready to pick when... ie in June: Strawberries, Gooseberries and Raspberries - add redcurrants, blackberries and blackcurrants in July!! (raspberry jam.... yum!!!!!!)

There's one called Lower Hockenden Farm which is really close.... less than a mile from Swanley Railway station (not far from Bromley) - but their website no longer works so I wonder if they're still up and running...01689 820059 but that would be very easy only 43 mins on the train.

There's also Hewitt's Farm in Knockholt, Orpingon - just over half mile from the train station (1hr 5 mins on train).

Lots more here:
http://www.pickyourown.org/uks2y.htm

gaijingirl · Apr 21, 2006

Getting carried away a bit, but the first place up there is only 5 miles from a camping barn with kitchen facilities which will go from £90 for sole occupation!!! If we wanted to make it our weekend craft club trip this year??

Pieface · Apr 21, 2006

I dig jam making :cool:

eme · Apr 21, 2006

gaijingirl said:
Getting carried away a bit, but the first place up there is only 5 miles from a camping barn with kitchen facilities which will go from £90 for sole occupation!!! If we wanted to make it our weekend craft club trip this year??

yay! goosberries or blackberries get my vote...

Pieface · Apr 21, 2006

Gooseberries would be good - less easy to come across. But I will save a
load and make:

FOOL

gaijingirl · May 2, 2006

Hiya.. well I called Cold Blow Farm (slightly ominous name) which is run by YHA and they have 3 camping barns. The smallest sleeps 10 which sounds about right for us:

The 'Old Bunk Barn' sleeps 10 in 3 rooms with kitchen/dining area.

I don't know how big the kitchen is, but presumably we could make our jam in it!

It's two miles from the nearest train station (Bearsted) and obviously not a million miles away if we drive.

It costs £110 per night for sole use. It is a minimum of two nights though - Friday and Saturday! Obviously if we get 10 people that would be £22 each for two nights, but we may be fewer - so paying more!

Available dates in July (that don't clash with Lambeth Country Fair are:

21/22 July
28/29 July

Wotcha reckon? (It's bunk beds btw!)

There's probably more dates in August/September too.

gaijingirl · May 2, 2006

bumpity bump...

Ms T · May 2, 2006

21/22 July is OK for me at a push. When is the Lambeth country fair, btw. Have horrible feeling I'm going to miss it.

gaijingirl · May 2, 2006

Lambeth Country Fair is July 15/16th.

eme · May 2, 2006

can do either of those dates.... cold (comfort) blow farm you saw... brrrr...

Choc · May 2, 2006

oh, exciting prospect!

though i am away on the 21 juli for a wedding and kind of think that going straight after on the next weekend may be a bit much for me (the wedding is going to be heavy ...brixton/german related)...

would there be any alternative dates?

i am really up for this we just have to find the perfect date. i would hate missing anybody of the hardcore/knitters on our weekend.

x

Pieface · May 3, 2006

I'm up for either of those weekends.

I still want to make the FOOL if I can :cool:

Pieface · May 3, 2006

Oooh - check it out - we all have locations

crustychick · May 3, 2006

Booo - looks like I'm going to miss Lambeth Country Fair

But, if you'd have me, I'd be quite up for this PYO/jam-making weekend

I can do either weekend!

pretty please

gaijingirl · May 3, 2006

Of course we'd have you. Slight problem atm.. with a Ms T v Choc clash!! :eek:

Ms T - is the 29th/30th completely impossible? If so, Choc and Ms T.. who would mind missing it the least? :oops:

I've realised I can't do August at all by the looks of it... :eek:

September would be ok, but we'd only be able to pick Apples, Runner beans, Pumpkins, Plums and Sweetcorn - not great for jam really.

Also, the bunkhouse is about 10 miles from the PYO (I wrote to the PYO asking for accommodation advice, but they never replied - may try and call them at some point, just in case!) - so we will need to either - combine it with a country cycle (which I'd love!) - although it may be difficult to carry all our produce

, or get cabs, or use cars. If push comes to shove, I can probably borrow a car from my old man and drive down.

gaijingirl · May 3, 2006

PieEye said:
I'm up for either of those weekends.

I still want to make the FOOL if I can

mmmmm FOOL... fruit and cream... a very naughty dessert that masquerades as a fruit salad!

I'm in favour!!

gaijingirl · May 3, 2006

So far we have

GG
PieEye
Eme
Choc/Ms T
Crustychick

(we'd prolly need a few more to make it worthwhile tbh!)... Zora??

I know Toggle can't make it.

Ruby, I'm guessing "no"?

I pm-ed Zoeherself.. but not heard yet.. :confused:

Any more jam makers out there?

Gaijinboy might be up for it - I'll ask him. I think the lure of jam might cancel out the shame of being the only boy!

Especially if we baked some bread whilst we were there too - which we could do couldn't we?

Imagine, fresh bread, butter and newly made jam...

crustychick · May 4, 2006

ooooooh yes, I'm all in favour of fresh bread! yum!!! I love bread baking

RubyToogood · May 4, 2006

gaijingirl said:
Ruby, I'm guessing "no"?

Not if you're going to go miles out of London, no.

wrysmile · May 4, 2006

I don't know the first thing about making jam.... but I love the countryside and fruit picking, so would be up for this if that's ok with craft clubbers? Depending on costs, etc, of course. Sounds :cool:

, particularly if some walking/cycling could be factored in.

Ms T · May 4, 2006

I'm working the weekend of the 29th/30th.

han · May 4, 2006

wrysmile said:
I don't know the first thing about making jam.... but I love the countryside and fruit picking, so would be up for this if that's ok with craft clubbers? Depending on costs, etc, of course. Sounds , particularly if some walking/cycling could be factored in.

Me too

....this sounds great!

I know nuffink about jam (I'm good at eating it) but I love fruit picking and fresh country air!

zora · May 4, 2006

Sounds fantastic - you're such an organizer, Gaijingirl. :cool:

I'd love to come, will check at work tomorrow which weekend I'm working. Might take me a little while to report though due to (still) limited computer availability.

Mmmm, blackberries! We should all start saving jars now!

gaijingirl · May 4, 2006

Right Han and Zora.. check your dates.... if we get a bigger consensus for either weekend that will help with the decision making!

gaijingirl · May 6, 2006

Just got a message from Zora to say that the 21/22nd is the weekend for her, so at the moment it looks like that will be the one.

Han.. let us know if you can.. I should get to booking this

So far we have

gaijingirl
pieeye
eme
ms t
crustychick
zora
Han ?
gaijinboy ? (still haven't asked him yet!)
wrysmile ?

So that's 6 definites and 3 maybes.

The price for accommodation will be somewhere between £37 for two nights (for 6 of us) and £22 (if there are 10 of us).
A return train ticket will be £17.50. Driving would obviously be cheaper :mad:

. I haven't made a secret of the fact that I hate driving and will always do a train/bike combo over a car - but I suppose we need to think about how we'll transport our large amounts of empty jars and picked produce to and from the bunkhouse. As it happens I have quite large panniers - but I don't suppose that's the case for everyone - or indeed others may not want to cycle. I think we may already have a few cars between us if people want to use them/or volunteer - but no one should feel they have to.

I have no idea how much the PYO will be (just looked at their webpage and they're doing asparagus at the moment.. . YUM!).. but they do have a farm shop

and a dairy with over 100 cheeses

and a pantry shop with other yummy stuff

- so could end up being pricey for the weak willed of us! However, it does mean that we could maybe buy the ingredients from the farm shop for dinner on the Sat night - unless peeps would prefer to find a pub for dinner.

Anyway, if I book the bunkhouse it's going to be £220 on my credit card. I'm willing to do this, but I will need confirmation from everyone on the list that they're willing to commit to sharing the cost of accommodation (even if they need to cancel last minute - unless they can find a replacement of course).

Hope that seems fair.

gaijingirl · May 6, 2006

OMG! They grow maize mazes! Look at this!!

han · May 6, 2006

this sounds great

- ^^^fab maze!

gaijingirl · May 6, 2006

Hurrah! So Han, just pm-ed to say it needs to be 21/22 for her too - so that's pretty much the date decided!

21/22 July

gaijingirl
pieeye
eme
ms t
crustychick
zora
Han
Jan
gaijinboy ? (still haven't asked him yet!)
wrysmile ?

That's 10 people, but potentially room for one more as gaijinboy/wrysmile aren't confirmed.

RubyToogood · May 6, 2006

Since I won't be able to go to this, I might go and do a PYO nearer London at some point if anyone wants to join me.

wrysmile · May 6, 2006

I'm in, I'm in!!!! Am PMing GG to confirm.... this is exciting!! :cool:

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