Julia Hailes MBE

Sustainability Pioneer

Autumn pleasures… (Sept08)


Picking apples and blackberries in the beautiful autumn sun has only been surpassed listening to the sound of bagpipes whilst watching kites waving around against a deep blue sky. The last couple of weekends have been truly magical.

The Dorset Kite Festival is annual event on Eggardon Hill near Powerstock. It’s truly spectacular even when the weather is not that great. But this year must have been one of the best yet, with no clouds to be seen and the deep blue sea sparkling on the horizon. Kites came in all shapes and sizes – cows, boats, legs and birds – even a flamingo – it was very colourful…

Sitting in the High As A Kite Bar, with the music alternating between bagpipes and fiddles, I felt there weren’t much better ways of spending a weekend.

We followed this with blackberry picking – stocking up the freezer for blackberry and apple pies. The only problem was that whenever we got close to the best crop of fruit, the bullocks in the field started edging towards us in a rather threatening manner. Even without a dog to upset them, I find this habit rather unnerving – and so hurried on, in between hollering at the beasts to go away… Don’t know if the farmer would have approved…

I’ve noticed that the wet summer has brought a bumper crop of apples. My garden is no exception. Although there are only a few trees that have good eaters, there’s no way we can eat them all. So I’m putting bags in the back of my car to give away. And we’ve put the bird table on the roadside outside our gate with a basket and a notice. It says ‘Help yourself to free apples and put some money in the ‘hunesty’ box if you’d like’. As the spelling might suggest, the sign has been written by my sons. Even with relatively little traffic passing by, the children have done quite well.

Now the wet weather has returned and there’s less to distract us from the world financial collapse – listening to the news one wonders whether we’ll be able to enjoy next Autumn at all! Perhaps there will be even more takers for our free apples…