We had a bumper picking session yesterday, and the most prolific crop wasn’t even one we were after. We headed out to find some more elder flowers so we could make a second batch of champagne, having bought a crate of plastic bottles with screw tops so we could release the pressure over time (all but one of our corks have now blown).

The only trouble is, the council came along yesterday morning and trimmed the hedgerow from which we’d been picking it. We were, frustratingly, mere hours too late to pick an even bigger crop than we had done the first time around.

So we set out on our bikes, looking for more. We cycled through the park and along the fields as far as the next town, and then came back along the banks of the river, reasoning that the best crops, if any remained, would likely be found where they were well watered. That was true: we found plenty of elders. The only trouble is, those that hadn’t been trimmed had fruited, and the blossoms had given way to berries, which are great for beer but useless for champagne.

The last place we tried was the little copse two streets from home, but while the elder here had also turned to berry we found that it had wrapped itself around a rather grand old apple tree that was starting to drop its first fruits on the grass. We picked them up, and plucked whatever on the branches was loose and on the point of falling, cycling home with a haul weighing in at an impressive 3.8kg.

We did find enough elder flowers for half a dozen litres of champagne, which we duly mixed in the fermenter when we got back home, but the apples are a far better prize that we’ll be turning into apple jelly in the next week or two.