Bumper strawberry crop at pick-your-own farm

Hill Farm produced a record 18 tonnes of strawberries this year

A common assumption is that the number-one complaint from farmers is about the unpredictable British weather.

But Paddy Ivens, who has worked on his family farm near Peterborough since 1980, said this year had been the best he had known for strawberries.

Mr Ivens, 61, put it all down to the perfect weather conditions which he said had helped produce 18 tonnes of the fruit.

The strawberry season is now complete for Mr Ivens as it runs between June and late July.

Paddy Ivens said conditions had been perfect this summer

"Strawberries are like us – they don't like to be woken up late... they prefer a gentle start," said Mr Ivens, who owns Hill Farm, Chesterton.

He said the cool spring with plenty of rain had given enough water for the strawberries to "swell well" during the summer.

"Temperatures were in the high teens, early 20s. The sugars could then develop to create a really plump, sweet, juicy strawberry."

Plenty of rain in spring with cool conditions early on set things up for a huge strawberry crop

Mr Ivens said visitor numbers for fruit-picking had increased by 10% on previous years.

"Pick-your-own (PYO) farms are pretty rare these days. Back in the 1980s we had four or five in the local vicinity but now we are about the only one left," he said.

The farm has about 250 acres of arable crops with 35 acres set aside for growing PYO fruits such as raspberries, plums, blackberries and pumpkins.

Mr Ivens said PYO was all about trust but a small minority of people would sometimes sneakily scoff fruit

Mr Ivens said his parents had diversified as farmers by starting a PYO business in 1972, when they invited the public to pick sweetcorn.

"Back then, a lot of people were just curious," he said.

"They'd never ever seen a cob or knew what it was, but it went well, and the PYO aspect was born."

Over the past three weeks, strawberry production and sales have been 14% higher than last year, according to British Berry Growers, the industry body.