A good walk ruined

To continue the foraging theme for a tad, the next goodies on the agenda are sloes. Now, I have to confess to some ambivalence about sloes. Received wisdom is they are the bees-knees for sticking in a good gin, and whisky come to that, in order to make a warming, wintertime slurp.

However, for me sloe gin is somewhat akin to alcopops on speed. Hugely sweet, sometimes treacly, verging on sickly and always way too fruity. I may be doing the stuff a disservice, but I have tried quite a few recipes over the years and, for me, they have all been uniformly yuck.

Odd really, because I’m partial to a cherry brandy on a chilly evening.

A plea. Julie Davies having kindly let me in on her secret sloe picking location, what do you do with sloes if you don’t make an alcoholic fruit juice out of them?

Change of subject . . . reflecting on the very scrummy Sunday lunch at the Three Mariners, I realised one of the things that made it a treat was the enthusiastic, friendly, but unobtrusive service from the young team on front of house duty. A busy August Bank Holiday Sunday and they coped superbly.