August 2023
This month I’ve been on the trail of apricots. They’re my favourite summer fruit but tracking down really sweet and juicy ones is sometimes hard. Finding myself in Kent recently, I decided to visit an apricot farm. Even that proved hard. It was tucked away in a maze of orchards growing everything from apples to, well, apricots. Warmer springs are good news for UK apricot growers as the trees flower early and the fruit sets before the frosts can get them. There were apricots almost the size of tennis balls glowing red on the branches. I helped myself to a few. Delicious! But how do they get from the tree to our local fruit shops? Not far from the orchards is another huge field covered in mobile homes. Fruit-picking is a very seasonal business and the farms employ hundreds of temporary workers who live on site. From the farms, the apricots travel to wholesale fruit and veg markets where they are bought by the shops who sell them. Step forward Amanda Jane’s in the Queen’s Square, Adeyfield. Amanda Jane’s is one of my local heroes, or rather Kelly is! She is one of the team who run Hemel’s top fruit and flower shop. Well that’s my opinion, as I purchase another bag of hand-picked tasty apricots. So much nicer than the expensive  and meagrely filled tubs in the supermarkets! Kelly, who kindly posed for my photo, tells me that she and her colleagues Amanda Jane (the boss), Sue, Deb, Sarah & Jenny take it in turns to get their fruit and veg fresh from the market and into the shops every morning. They get up at 1am, travel into London and choose the day’s offerings and travel back to Hemel in time for opening at 9am. Amanda Jane’s has been going for 13 years and Kelly’s been there for 7. ‘It’s hard work’ she admits, ‘but we love it’. Now I’ve discovered Amanda Jane’s I wouldn’t go anywhere else. To be honest, that’s not difficult because there isn’t anywhere else quite like it!