It had to happen at some point and there, we’ve had it – the first frost. It was there on the car windscreen first thing the other morning, and it was there cloaking the countryside down on the Godminster farm with its ghostly , silvery mist.  

There’s something about the first frost that seems to be Nature’s way of saying, that’s it, winter’s finally here.  It’s also Nature’s way of saying, go and trawl the hedgerows and make some Christmas sloe gin, because that’s when the sloes are meant to be at their best for this seasonal  tipple. After the first frost the sloes are ripe and slightly less bitter. All you then have to do is prick them with a pin, pop them in a bottle with caster sugar and keep shaking at regular intervals.  

You’ll be glad of it come Christmas. The halls decked with boughs of holly. Also with roaring log fire in the grate, as you pour out a glass and enjoy that dark ruby-red liquid. Alternatively, you can just skip the whole process and buy a bottle of our organic Godminster Sloe Vodka.  Chin chin. Jess