All ahead sloe!

A close-up of white ,five-petalled blackthron flowers

They say you should stop and smell the flowers; I would add that you should stop and smell the blossom as well. I really like the scent of blackthorn!

Just at the moment, blackthorn is in blossom and around here there's quite a lot of it.  It is a member of the cherry family, and it puts on a show that is worthy of its heritage.

Later in the year, the bushes will be covered in dark blue berries – sloes.  You can pick them and eat them but you would only want to do that one berry at a time.  They are really astringent!  Eating them is when you learn that you can pucker your tongue…  Sloe gin is proof that God loves us (and I'm reliably informed that the sloes make a truly wicked pie afterwards).  Oh – and mind the thorns, they’re long spikes, you could do yourself a damage.

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