It’s around 40 years since some enterprising Surrey farmers first tentatively opened their gates to customers eager to pick their own crops. The concept was already proving successful in America, when a few British pick your own pioneers to test the market and the rest, as they say, is history.
During the 1970’s, Pick Your Own (PYO) in Surrey was big business. Car ownership was becoming commonplace and people were eager to get out into the countryside and enjoy fresh air and the pleasure of gathering super fresh produce at a good price. Farmers, realising they were onto something exciting, turned over vast acres of their land to this new craze, planting an array of crops from strawberries and raspberries to beans, plums and cherries. Pick your own pays best when done on a grand scale – and this was the case at Surrey farms such as Garsons at Esher, Secretts at Godalming and Priory Farm at South Nutfield near Redhill.
The popularity continued until the early 90’s, when it began to decline. This was probably triggered by the steady rise in the number of supermarkets offering a dazzling range of fruit and vegetables throughout the year. Seasonality was yesterday’s story.
For pick your own fruit and vegetable farms in Surrey, this signalled the end of the halcyon days. Gradually, as demand declined and the crowds of eager pickers dwindled, they found their acres of crops becoming less viable. Sadly, this was too much for some, who were forced into closing their gates to the public.
Our love affair with the supermarkets intensified through the ‘90’s, and shows no sign of abating, but concern about freshness, seasonality and the environmental impact of transporting crops thousands of miles to our shelves has made many of us look again to our local farmers. Could PYO be back in fashion?
Well, it certainly seems to be a story of “the rise and fall and rise again”, as interest in PYO gains pace once more. Arguably, we will never again see the huge popularity of yesteryear, when folk picked large quantities of crops and benefited from cheap prices. These days, with supermarkets locked in price wars, and “buy one get one free” offers being commonplace, a visit to the farm is unlikely to be the cheapest option. Yet there’s nothing to beat the sweet fragrance of strawberries as they ripen in the field, nor the succulence of “just picked” raspberries, still warm from the sun.
For local families, a trip to a PYO farm can offer a great day out in our lovely Surrey countryside and a chance for children to re-connect with food production on a very natural basis. Even the most fruit-phobic child is likely to enjoy a strawberry that they’ve picked themselves. At most Surrey pick your own venues, the season starts in May and runs until the first frosts.
The biggest pick your own farm in England is Garsons at Esher. As availability depends upon varieties (and weather), it does vary from farm to farm, so it’s worth checking with individual venues before setting out – happy picking!
Tags: pick your own
PYO
