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A general image of a strawberry picking field (Image: Mirrorpix)<\/p>\nMany families made it an annual tradition to visitA general image of a strawberry picking field (Image: Mirrorpix)<\/p>\n
A popular strawberry-picking spot near Bristol will not be operating this summer due to rising costs.<\/p>\n
Fruit picking is a much-loved family past-time but one stalwart of the tradition will noticeably be absent from the area this year.<\/p>\n
St Aldams Nursery in Westerleigh Road, Pucklechurch<\/a>, has confirmed the closure of its pick-your-own fruit facility, with the exception of its pumpkin patch in autumn.<\/p>\n Established for over 40 years, the garden centre is focusing on its primary purpose as a traditional plant nursery. Expense has been blamed for the reason that St Aldams Nursery will no longer offer pick-your-own fruit as an option this season.<\/p>\n When approached by Bristol Live, a spokesperson said: “Due to the extra labour and other costs that have been imposed on us, we unfortunately are no longer growing pick-your-own fruit.”<\/p>\n The news will come as a disappointment to regulars, many of whom have left positive reviews over the years of the pick-your-own operation. Writing on Google, one customer said: “Such a lovely little nursery! Visited here to pick some fruit during the summer months. There is a free car park and no entry fee either which is fab.<\/p>\n “The staff members are super friendly and knowledgeable, they also provide free punnets. We picked lots of strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants.”<\/p>\n The reviews mentioning strawberry picking date back 12 years, with another visitor writing: “Excellent. Easy to get to and park. This is the place for pyo strawberries !”<\/p>\n St Aldams will still offer pick-your-own pumpkins which will be ready in September, but the option of picking your own fruits – which used to include varieties of strawberries, gooseberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and raspberries – has now stopped. However, it has been confirmed on the company’s website that pumpkins will be ready in time for Halloween which is good news for carvers.<\/p>\n The industry nationally is said to be feeling the pinch due to rising energy costs, wage increases and other expenses. The struggle is despite the British berry market reaching a total market value of \u00a32 billion for the first time, according to British Berry Growers \u2014 the industry body representing 95 percent of British berries sold in the UK.<\/p>\n However, despite reaching this milestone, the future success of the UK production industry is by no means secure \u2014 with conditions for growers becoming increasingly demanding, experts warn.<\/p>\n Nick Marston, chairman of British Berry Growers, said earlier this year: \u201cWe are immensely proud of reaching this milestone, and of the industry\u2019s resilience in the face of challenging operating conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it is also clear that there are very tangible risks which threaten the industry\u2019s future. In particular, it\u2019s clear that retailers have a significant role to play in the industry\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout their support, growers will struggle to expand production and meet the ever-growing demand for fresh British berries. This would be a tragedy when the ongoing growth of the overall retail market gives a huge opportunity to increase our UK home production and self-sufficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n The report from the industry body shone light on some of the difficulties being faced by farmers. It said 85 percent of British growers previously recorded declines or a stagnation in revenue over a three-year period and during this year \u2014 the share of British berries has shrunk by 2.54 percent. Meanwhile, the volume of imported berries increased by 15.11 percent.<\/p>\n However, ideal weather<\/a> conditions have made for a bumper crop for strawberry growers <\/a>this year, potentially offering a much-needed boost for growers.<\/p>\n Join our WhatsApp group<\/a>Privacy Notice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many families made it an annual tradition to visitA general image of a strawberry picking field (Image: Mirrorpix)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,393,4884,15125,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-146435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-things-to-do-in-bristol","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114601706487711209","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}