Introduction

As a child I would often spend time with my mother and grandmother outdoors. On weekends we would go foraging for mushrooms or blueberry picking. I remember sitting in the fields eating glorious, crunchy green peas, feeling the warm breeze on my face and loving the pea shells and scented air around me.

A favourite pastime was climbing up our cherry tree, losing track of the height as I searched for the next juicy cherry. I would sit there for hours, eating the luscious dark cherries until my tummy hurt; on one occasion I had to be taken down by the fire brigade because I climbed too high to be able to get down alone!