Bumper blueberry haul for Whitchurch fruit farm
A fruit farm looks set to smash its own records this summer with an estimated five tonnes of blueberries grown.
Wood Cottage Berry Farm is a family fruit farm on the edge of Whitchurch and the six-acre site looks set to farm a bumper haul of blueberries - with nearly two tonnes more estimated than it grew last year.
Owners David and Gill Wilson Butterworth say the farm produced about three tonnes last year but this year the crop has exceeded that amount because of the ideal weather conditions.
Mr Wilson Butterworth said: "This year the weather has been perfect, we have had rain at the right time as well as all of this brilliant sunshine. It really has been great fro growing blueberries.
"We are hoping to have five tonnes and started our first pick this weekend."
The couple run the farm with their son and daughter-in-law, Guy and Kate Walker Springett.
The farm has eight different varieties of blueberry including blue crop, darrow, osark blue and nui.
Mr Wilson Butterworth has put this season's bumper crop solely down to the weather – but said they do all they can to make sure the crop is as good as it can be. He said the best pollinators for blueberries are mason bees.
"They don't pollinate like honey bees do," he explained. "They sonicate – vibrate the plant instead. We have mason bee houses around the farm."
Sonication, or buzz pollination, sees bees grab on to flowers and vibrate their flight muscles until pollen is loosened. They groom it from their bodies into pollen sacks, then use it to pollinate tomatoes, potatoes and cranberry.
The farm is offering pickers a summer of blueberry picking right up until September and opens every Saturday from 10am to 4pm.
But you may also be sampling the blueberries in restaurants across Shropshire.
Mr Wilson Butterworth said: "Our new brand is Rosemary Cottage and the main of the crop will be sent to restaurants via a wholesaler. But there will still be plenty to pick.
"On the pick days we generally get about 50 to 60 people coming to pick, and we will be running them right up until the first or second weekend in September."
Punnets holding 250g cost £2 and there will be signage nearby during the weekends to direct visitors.
For more information, contact (01948) 710525.
