Parkside Farm Pick Your Own (PYO)

Assalamualaikum...

I have been planning for fruit picking activity with my bestie since the beginning of spring and that's the season where all the fruits riping deliciously =D

but since we were quite pack with other activities and labwork and all sort of other reasons that I could possibly type in, at the end, last Saturday, on the 22nd of August, me my bestie and 5 other of my friends went for fruit picking at Parkside Farm Pick Your Own (PYO) at Enfield

we took Piccadilly line train from Hammersmith station and hop off at Finsbury Park station...and we need to change here to National Rail train (Great Eastern line) to Potters Bar station...actually its only 1 stop from Finsbury Park station and the journey only took 10 minutes...so since its only 1 station and the area is still in London, we thought that we can use oyster, and there was no problem from Finsbury Park station when we use our oyster card...somehow, at Potters Bar station, when we touch our oyster card, there is an error saying "seek assistance" at the display machine...so went to the counter and ask him and he says that we need to but a different ticket from the ticket machine and we can't use oyster! haha...sorry sir we don't know that...but since we were already at the station, we don't need to pay for the fare...we just need to buy another ticket when we want to go back...

from the Potters Bar station, we need to take 313 bus and hop off at Roundhedge Way bus stop station and walk for about 15 minutes to the venue (our pace since its very hot and we walk slowly so as not to sweat! :p)

from afar the first thing that catch my eyes were the "Please Take A Leaflet" sign...straight away I took one leaflet because I know the leaflet will be so important in our journey later as you know farm would be so big and you will lost your way if you have no direction, I know it eventhough I don't have any experience with farm before...hihi...its just my instinct guys~instinct~ ^_*

so just for you guys, I took a snap of the leaflet...all the info is written in the leaflet...

  

the thing to take note here is: there is no entrance fees! but, each person need to spend a minimum of  GBP3 as I have already highlighted in red box above from the leaflet

this is the map for the whole lot of the farm! very big :D

and the sign of the opening hours are also written on a signboard at the entrance of the farm...the fruits and vege that's available at the time that we went were also being displayed...

once we entered, we need to queue...not to pay but to get the baskets and plastic bag to put in all the fruits and vege that we pick

in order to make their work easier at the cashier later at the exit (the cashier centre is just behind the lady in apron), we need to separate the fruits and vege in their respective baskets

the green basket is for fruits

the blue basket is also for fruits

and for vege, they will give you plastic bag to put it in

systematic and easy for them! so I took one green basket, one blue basket and 2 plastic bags same goes to my bestie...

then there goes our exploration inside the farm~

  

the first destination was to pick Blackberries

there were few blackberries that's already fully ripe and there were some still not...and we realise that most of the ripe blackberries were situated at the bottom as I think the logical reason would be other people already pick the ripe ones on the top

and there are few of this signs scattered on this farm...it means that they have just planted it so DO NOT PICK! hehe

next, we went to pick Spinach

  

that's the plastic bag that I was referring to for vegetables

we thought of picking some onions but when we reached this area, the onion is not pickable since there is a sign not to pick it...but as you can see there are lots of onions there...there were other area that you can pick it but since we were on different path from that area, we were so lazy to go there...haha...

next we went for Plums

if you realised, on the 8th photo in this post, they have written it down on the board that only few left for the plums...but still we went there just to try our luck and to experience it ourselves...hehe

and yeah not many left on the trees...the one that's left were the one that's still greenish...there were few that's fully ripe but its wayyyy on top of the tree...and I am not dare enough to climb the tree branch as the branch doesn't look promising enough to hold my weight...haha...end up we just picked the one that looks a bit reddish in colour and just hoping that it will ripe by its own in our house before we can eat it! :D

after we have explore the left side of the farm (refer the map above), we went to the most right side of the farm (refer the map above) of where we can pick french beans and sweetcorn...

we went for French Beans first

we only picked 1/4 of the plastic bag just for our own use...

then, we went for Sweetcorn

it is one of my bucket list to walk in between the corn field myself as I have seen it quite a lot in the movies...and here I was!! hehe...

I have no idea on how to pick the corn...my bestie told me that she learned it from a movie that when you see the brownish hairy-like fibre on top of the corn (red arrow), that's when you can pick it up...when I went back home and I peeled off the skin, all of the corn were fine and fully ripe! you are right bestie! haha

and last but not least was to pick Tomatoes

  

cherry tomatoes...

we don't pick any strawberries as I have done it before in Malaysia so I went for the things that I don't have any experience on picking them up yet>.<

just before we went back, we pay all the fruits and vege that we picked and we bought some ice creams to quench our thirst!

the total damage?? 

-_-"

we surely pass the minimum spend...oh btw this was both for me and my bestie since we live in one roof ^_^

(p/s: the lavender is from our backyard! :p )

we only spend almost 3 hours inside the farm...but we didn't explore the whole area...so you can manage your time if you are planning to explore the whole area in this farm...you might need more than that :D

all I can say is that I really enjoy the activity and Alhamdulillah the weather was so nice eventhough we were sweating inside the farm...hahaha...now I feel the farmer...love you farmer! <3

till then...

Bye~^_^v

Easter Break | Amsterdam Trip Part 1

Assalamualaikum...

last Easter Break which falls on the early April me, my bestie and 2 of my friends decided to go to a trip to Netherlands and Belgium for 4D3N...this is the first trip that I have ever planned in advance for almost a month! there should be more than 4 people but somehow 2 of my friends can't make it due to visa reason and another one just can't make it :(

our plan was to go to Brussels first, hire a car and drive to Netherlands and come back to Brussels and exit to London...so we took Eurostar train from St. Pancras to Brussels...my nightmare everytime I went for a trip happens during this time! we didn't make it before the time of boarding...we should be there half-hour before departure for check-in since we need to go thru custom as this is international train, the rules apply same as those with flight...but luckily, one of my friend managed to change the ticket time to a later one...

on the train, we met this Korean uncle named Donggel Li...he suddenly ask me where are we from since I was sitting at the aisle and he was sitting in front of me...starting from that point, he chats with us because he said that 2 hours journey will be so boring and thats so true tho...but since I just came back from San Francisco on the 30th March and we start our trip on the 2nd of April I was still having my jetlag, I doz off in the middle of the chat...when I woke up, we were almost there :D

this is the friendly Korean uncle! ^_^v

at the station itself, we rent a car from Europcar company to go to Brussels which is much more cheaper if you are travelling in a large group...another incident happened here when my bestie didn't bring her previous driving license card...it doesn't mentioned beforehand in the Europcar website that the driving license should be more than one year! arrghh...fortunately that I brought my previous driving license card since 2010...haha...so we just need to change the booking from my bestie's name to mine...Alhamdulillah...

I was already bear in mind that the road will be as apposite as in Malaysia and UK, but the moment I step in the car, I was nervous to start the engine...my leg were shaking! haha...

  

we start the journey smoothly...

  

  

  

  

  

we went thru beautiful houses, churches, lakes, trees that looks like whomping willow trees in Harry Potter :) few animals such as deer, horses and top of that we even went thru a bridge that looks like Penang bridge! lol

  

after such a long journey, we stop a while to eat..we found this since there are chairs and table for us to set up a mini picnic, but once we got out from the car, the wind was blowing crazily...so we end up eating in the car -_-'

we continue our journey until...

  

we found a dead end! we were shocked as there were no other way, it seems like we need to go thru the river...I have been suspicious along the way as we didn't reach the motorway/highway after almost 3 hours...and then this??? 

to convince me that we didn't lost, so I open my GPS using my phone and thats the only way for us to cross over the river and actually this is one of the route as mentioned in the Google Map...

fortunately the ferry ride is cheap...just Euro 2.35...pfftt~~

once we cross the river, I opened back the navi system and then I realised something!!! it was set up as "avoid motorway"arggghhh no wonder...so guys, if you hired a car next time, make sure the first thing you do is check the navigation set up! this might be set up from the previous renter -_-"

then after that we enter highway and straight to our accommodation...we reached our accommodation around 6.30pm...a 3 hours journey become 6 hours~ but I am satisfied because if not due to the faulty set up of the navigation, we wouldnt see the beautiful side of the villages here =D

sneak peak of our accommodation ^_*

will tell you more about this accommodation...highly recommended!!!! thumbs up! >.<

after prayer and freshen up a bit, we decided to go to the city for a while...we park our car at Park and Ride or they call it as P&R which is just 6 minutes away from our accommodation...its so convenient to travel and thats one of their way to avoid tourist cars in the city...I just love the idea :)

just 4 stations away from the P&R to the central station approx around 10 minutes ride by the train

this is Amsterdam Central Station, the centre for metro, interrail and international trains...since me and my bestie haven't change the money yet, so we decided to do it here...we went to one of the exchange money counter inside the station, the staff was so playful and funny to us...but he did helped us when he said that its better if we cash out the money using the ATM machine that situated just around the corner rather than using their service because there will be Euro5 and 3% charge...tq sir! :-*

then we took a train to the "I amsterdam" sign which is the must-visit-place if you come to Amsterdam

we took some photo and then we headed back to our accommodation...need some rest to continue our exploration on the next day~

Bye~^_^v