A wonderfully warm afternoon after a very wet night and I have been picking early blackberries (accompanied by two greedy horses who mug me for the bowl.) Now the whole house is full of the scent of them gently cooking. Will it be jam, crumble or pie? The answer is yes to all of that- because there is also a huge box of plums from the trees at Abbey Cottage to deal with! The epitome of the ripening season.