As new kids on the block, we have to start from scratch as we learn the ways of the vine. We had a brilliant time at a vineyard in Suffolk picking grapes.

We worked in a team and moved like a train down the vines with buckets in hand. Each picker would pick a short strip with ‘snips’, special scissors for picking grapes. We would simply snip off a bunch and put it in our own bucket. Once we had finished our strip we would walk to the next un-picked section and start there. A bucket runner would move up and down the rows taking full buckets and depositing them in the large ‘bins’ which would in turn be collected by a forklift and loaded into a lorry for the winery. It was amazing how quickly the team moved through the rows- we picked 8 tonnes of grapes in a matter of hours!

It was brilliant fun being outdoors and picking this beautiful crop, and gave us a great flavour of what is to come. We hope to open the doors one day to allow others to discover the joys of picking and hopefully the satisfaction of tasting afterwards!