Along paths covered in wild bramble, in the back of our cottage, in a nearby walled garden or by a village school ripening fruit appears. It’s July so they’ve not reached their peak of perfection or maturity. Spider webs grow alongside them as they ripen in the rays of the summer sun.
From the lines of The Odyssey by Homer translated by Alexander Pope:
Close to the Gates a spacious Garden lies…
The reddening Apple ripens here to Gold,
Here the blue Fig with luscious Juice overflows…
The branch here bends beneath the weighty Pear…
I did find one sole peach all ready to be picked in a garden watched by a cat.
And wherever we walk we see fruit ripening on wild brambles. Sometimes just blossoming flowers as in this garden.
Or growing with abandonment in the shrubs of the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex.
As well as by a path leading up to a village school. But we’ll have to wait to the end of the summer and start of autumn before gathering blackberries in baskets for a fruit feast.
Meanwhile in the back garden damsons change colour.
They’ll be picked later and made into damson jam…and gin!
So I say – sun keep on shining this summer, both for us and the ripening fruit, whether in ordered or wild gardens. Autumn can wait!
i love your post i feel like i stepped into a fairy tale with the poem and the peach ditty we just finished reading james and the giant peach, i wonder if you left it would it get any bigger.
What a beautiful sight, isn’t it? Seeing these photos of ripening fruit makes me feel so hopeful and filled with a certain elation.
How lovely to have so much ripening fruit. Feel ridiculously sad for the spider and his broken web, lovely shot
Your first photo with the spider web and then the photo of the damsons moved me enormously. The first photo is my favourite photo of the year. The damsons are just beautiful. Thank you for sharing. #hdygg
Some great finds there, I have already picked some blackberries and we had a crumble, so early but still delicious. Mich x
Fabulous post Kriss, wonderful photos and words. It all looks so lush and plentiful x #HDYGG
oh wow!!! so many fruit trees. i’m a bit envious of the figs. they are one of my favorites
Thanks – I’ve been amazed since recently moving back at all the fruit trees everywhere.
I chuckled to myself when I read about the cat watching the peach 🙂 Lovely photo of the rays of sun shining on the fruit. You’ll be swimming in fruit once everything is ripe!
Fruit picking is lots of fun – but want summer to drag on first!
Can’t believe how far advanced everything is this year blackberries have already been black – though v sour! – for a week and our damsons look almost ready for picking.
I’ve been having to hold my kids back from picking as so many are already looking so tempting!
Oh I love this time of year, everything feels so productive. You’ll be up to your eyeballs in fruit crumbles and pies before you know it now.
I love the brick wall too, which might sound odd, but I love an old brick wall in a garden!
Thanks for joining in again – see you Monday!
Definitely like the idea of crumbles! And I know exactly what you mean by an old brick wall 🙂