Country Mouse

Fruits of our labours

ONE of the many bonuses of moving from Dumfriesshire to Dorset last year has been the variety of fruit and vegetables a sunnier and drier climate allows us to grow.

During eight years in the Borders, when the weather was mostly dreich—they don’t call it south-‘wet’ Scotland for nothing—we tried, but failed miserably, to harvest any crops. Cauliflowers rotted before we could pick them and a tiny greenhouse—purchased and furnished with plants by my parents—blew away in a storm. It was eventually found, two years later, miles up the valley.

Now, in our neatly fenced vegetable patch at the top of the garden, my husband, Simon, has nurtured a plethora of plants, from asparagus, kale and his beloved broad beans to pak choi, cavalo nero, courgettes and greyhound cabbage. There’s also lots of lettuce, runner beans, sweetcorn and peas.

What a pleasure it is to enjoy this bounty in the imaginative dishes my husband cooks on my return from the office each evening, often followed by home-picked fruit, such as loganberries.

We’re looking forward to our own apples and pears, too, but there will be no gooseberries this year—sock, our ancient labrador, and Chester, our cheeky terrier, have snaffled the lot. PL