Fruit picking with Fruit Shoot @ Home cottage farm

With the stress of back to school looming we were invited by Fruit Shoot to take part in some fruit picking at Home cottage farm which made a lovely final summers day out.

Home cottage farm is a small family run ‘pick your own’ farm on the outskirts of Uxbridge. We travelled to the farm on the busy tube network which accompanied by four nosebleeds from Kieron made for an eventful journey. It was worth it to enjoy the tranquillity of the country surroundings, wading through raspberry bushes and apple trees. We were accompanied by other bloggers and unfortunately we arrived slightly late so the raspberries were sparse by the time we reached them with our basket, but it made it fun having to search for the perfect berries to pick.

We had the option of picking blackberries, raspberries, apples and plums but didn’t want to carry too much as we had a long journey back via rush hour mayhem so we just stuck with the raspberries and apples.

Although it was pouring down with rain on our journey the sun made an appearance later in the afternoon and we were treated to a lovely picnic on the grass with lots of healthy goodies to indulge in. We were accompanied by author and master baker Holly Bell who was a finalist in The Great British Bake Off and made us some delicious treats that were free from refined sugar and instead filled with the natural sweetness of fruit.

We had a selection of savoury treats followed by loaf cake, muffins and my favourite, this succulent and sweet flapjack that I never would have guessed contains no sugar! This was all washed down with refreshing Fruit Shoots in a range of flavours. We were given the recipes and a children’s baking set so we could make them at home or come up with our own delights. As this recipe is really simple (and I’m no Holly Bell) I will definitely be trying this out!

The message of the day is that you can enjoy sweet treats without having to compromise on your health and that real fruit is a great alternative to other artificial sweeteners and refined sugar.

Did you know that Fruit Shoot is made with real fruit?

There is real fruit in every drop of Fruit Shoot and each and every one is filled with multi-vitamins. Better still, there isn’t any added sugar, artificial colours or flavourings at all.

As somebody that eats far too many unhealthy snacks this was a great opportunity to find alternatives and I am going to attempt to give up refined sugars and enjoy more natural substitutes instead.

Do you have any tips for giving up sugar?

*written in collaboration with fruit shoot, all opinions are my own