Bumper autumn fruit and berry crop on the way

And, as Jacquelyn Crofts, visitor services manager for Beningbrough Hall and Gardens, near York, discovered, apples are in abundance on the trees in the walled garden.

The good spring and early summer has led experts to predict an excellent autumn for fruiting plants, meaning plenty of blackberries, hawthorn, holly, spindleberries, sloes and rosehips.

The charity's conservation adviser, Matthew Oates, said there would be plenty for wildlife to eat ahead of winter, and also encouraged people to get out to enjoy the autumn and the natural harvest by picking fruits, berries and sloes for jams, crumbles or drinks.

But the National Poisons Information Service, commissioned by the Health Protection Agency, is reminding people that many wild mushrooms can prove dangerously toxic.

Jonathan Curtoys, of gin-makers Sloe Motion, which uses sloes from around its base at Barton-le-Willows, near York, said: "We have seen an extremely good harvest so far." Picture: Gary Longbottom.