if you go down to the woods today

And those woods happen to be in Poland, you might find a forest floor filled with blueberries

Rozanne and Dan have just returned from a berry sourcing adventure across Eastern Europe, where they tasted an array of berry shaped fruit.

 

Howver, before they got to actually taste any berries, they first had several mini adventures along the way.

After being greeted by a dog on the runway, hiring a car that sounded like a hairdryer and picking up a speeding ticket in the first twenty minutes of driving, they then got hideously lost (thanks to a self-programming sat nav system) and had to wait by some woods in the middle of the night for our suppliers to pick them up.

 

When our suppliers finally arrived, Rozanne and Dan were then driven through pitch black forests at 180kph in a blacked out Audi, plied with vodka, potatoes and breadcrumbed meat and made to sing along to Russian pop. And that's not even taking into account the 7 hour border crossing, rigourous strip search (of the blowdrying car) and more money changing hands they had to endure, all in the name of finding the best berries for our smoothies.

It was all worth it when they got there though as they got to taste loads of berries and meet this excellent chap

 

He is in charge of about twenty or so berry collection points, which is where all the farmers turn up each day, in Fiat Pandas laden with fruit to be sent further afield.

 

Here are Dan and Rozanne sampling some berries

 

And here they are post berry-buying-vodka-toasting-high-speed-driving-traffic-police-bribing antics, playing catch up kip.

 

Berry buying at it's finest.

Comments

[Laura]

What an awfully big adventure! Still, nice to be back home, eh?

[Richard Rockcliffe]

You don't need to go to Poland for excellent Blueberries! Try Norfolk, Mr Knight grows them near Kings Lynn.

[Alex]

Crikey, you can buy them from the side of the road when I used to holiday in the South West. No adventure required!

[Jean Shepherd]

Beacon Fell, just north of Preston, is nearer, or if you want an excuse for a proper holiday- go to Cumbria.
The mountain called Haystacks
(which is also Alfred Wainwright's favourite mountain) used to have lots

[Anna]

Poland is not in Easter Europe! Poland is like the most CENTRAL European country, seriously... Finland is more to the east and you don't call it an Eastern European country, do you?