Cobnuts, my week picking nuts in the UK

 

I’ve always wanted to try harvesting food. It feels very wholesome to pick your own fruit and veg.

Its very physical activity, which, no doubt, is far better for you then sitting at your desk.

While researching nuts I came across the website food and forest who were advertising for pickers for cobnuts. Cobnuts are a type of Hazelnut. The pickers would be paid a decent wage £9.50 an hour and the day was not that long, 830 to 4.30.

I registered my interest and the manager Charles  got back to me. He gave me a short telephone interview, enquiring if I felt fit  enough and  what I had planned for accommodation.

As it was going to take me too long a time to get to the job if I commuted, I decided I would camp. This might be a very risky venture as if it rained I might find myself feeling incredibly homesick and miserable. Additionally after watching too much True crime on  Netflix I was nervous about camping on my own.

There was a campsite ten minutes bike ride away, but unfortunately it was shut on account of COVID  19. So I would have to go to Lucy’s barn, which, according to google maps was  a 36 minute bike ride from the farm.

My mum and dad are avid cycle campers, so they helped and advised me to pack up. I packed a camping stove, my light weight tent, enough clothes for a weeks camping excursion and made a trip to Lidl and bought food that would last me a week as where I was there was no local shops nearby. This included a giant salami sausage, cheese slices, a bag of rocket (Which I expected to go off by the end of the week) 5 chocolate croissants, 5 baguettes, 5 canned meals and three bags of boil in the bag rice and some peanuts to snack on. Now I was all set.

I would take my bike on the train to Sevenoaks and then cycle from Sevenoaks to my campsite. The journey started relatively peacefully and I managed to strap my bike onto the train okay.

This came to an end when I tried to get my bike out. It was rather difficult anyway with all my gear on my bike, but a man had put his bike right next to the door, I thought this was okay as I was getting out the other side so he merely moved his bike a little over. However the platform arrived on the side where his bike was, and to make matters worse some one had chained their bike to the door. It was impossible for me to get my bike out so I would have to get out at the next station. I recognised the girl who had chained the bike up and explained it to her. She was very embarrassed and apologetic and moved her bike. I told her it was okay, to be honest I really was not that bothered. I had plenty of time anyway. I got off at the next station and got on a train back to Sevenoaks. once in Sevenoaks it took me a rather long time to negotiate the lethal main roads. Even the quiet roads where busy.

I arrived at the campsite about 7. The campsite  was not as scary as I had expected. It was very open and I was near a house and the toilets, so if a psychopath did try to kidnap me I think alarm bells would have been rung.

I set up my small tent and made myself comfortable. The first night I pretty much set up my tent then it got dark so I had no choice but go to sleep.

The next morning I awoke and jumped in the shower. The heat from the shower only lasted for a short time, I cursed and grew annoyed as I realized it had gone cold. A malfunctioning shower? But I was soon to find out that these showers were only warm for a limited amount of time before they went cold. Annoying at first I later thought at least this meant I did not while time away in the shower.

I’m not a jolly person before any kind of work in the morning and am generally unhappy, until I’ve made some progress with the tasks I wish to achieve in the day.   I gobbled up my chocolate croissant and then jumped on my bike. The roads took me through beautiful countryside, however, they were still mostly very busy, not motorways, but busy with many four by fours. They were  also very hilly, the downhill was steep and the uphill was ongoing. I got to the place and realized I was mistaken and the day started at 8.30 not 9am as I had thought. Great, I was an hour late and could not find the place. I had to ring Charles and he gave me directions. He greeted me at the gate and then I walked down with him. He instructed me what to do and then I started picking on a tree with Emma and Paul. It was pretty easy, the hardest bit was reaching the highest branches and pulling them down.  I always find the first day the hardest anywhere as you are getting to know people and there’s always the fear that they are going to be awful, difficult people, but everyone was very nice, polite, pleasant and I found that actually I had quite a lot in common with most of my colleagues.

At lunch time we sat down the bottom of the field and I tucked into my salami, cheese and rocket sandwich that I had made the previous night. The first ten minutes of every lunch time was very quiet as I believe everyone was too hungry to talk. Then everyone would start chatting, everyone was pretty friendly and open.

Charles sells the nuts at borough market in London and online.  Gillian and the National trust owned the land and Gillian was picking the nuts along with us, which I was impressed by as she was in her seventies. Charles wished to implement agro-forestry. This is the idea you have tree’s which you can harvest  alongside other crops such as barley, which is more biodiverse and sustainable then biodiversity deserts of crops.

The work was physical, yet less tiring then a decision making job. I would cycle home every day, which was hard as there was a massive, very steep long hill I had to climb, which I would get through by admiring the amazing and beautiful vines which grew at the side. I had a certain routine every day where I would cook my dinner, wash up, read my book then be in bed by 8.30. Every day I enjoyed  apart from Thursday, as I had not slept well the previous night, having not zipped the bottom of my sleeping bag up properly and woke up cold and miserable.

For most of the time I was paired with  Oscar, a young student, many of the people there were students, or were on furlough. We had a lot in common, so chatted about literature and outdoor activities whilst picking the nuts.

It was very therapeutic and relaxing and it felt like there was a good community spirit there.

On Wednesday my parents visited me and we visited the local pub the black horse, which had a massive garden and very delicious food. I recommend the pub!

On the last day, Charles brought out a bucket of cold beers, mid afternoon, which we all enjoyed and then  later in the day we said our goodbyes. I returned back on the train, my journey smoother then previously and returned home to my boyfriend James. We ordered a Chinese takeaway, as I felt I deserved it after all my hard work. I had been uncommonly lucky with the weather. It had only drizzled once for a short time and that was when I was tucked up in my tent at the early hours of the night. The rest of the time it had either been cloudy or sunny. It had been chilly at times, but not uncomfortably cold.

All in all it was a surprisingly enjoyable work trip!