A British autumn is familiar to just about everyone - images of rust-coloured leaves, clear crisp evenings and fireworks on the village green. Unfortunately it might also contain incessant rain, freezing mornings, more rain and some cheap sparklers from the newsagents. So we made these smoothies for autumn to keep you happy in case the latter stuff happens.

They're some of our finest ever - damsons, blackberries and apples, and they're made using some excellent local ingredients. They're only around for autumn so grab them while you can.


Brand new autumn news throughout autumn...
We'll be updating our blog frequently with loads of autumnal type stuff all throughout the season. Keep an eye on this special autumn bit of our blog.

Damsons are like plums - a little bit smaller, with a beautifully distinctive bluey-purple skin. We got our's from Hertfordshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire and we're pretty chuffed with them - this is the first ever smoothie made with this lovely fruit, and it's tasting good. We got a lot of our damsons from Stanley the farmer and Stuart the damson collector. Stuart drives round to collect damsons from other farmers in his area - even people with the odd damson tree in their garden bring damsons to his farm (thanks to his ads in the local papers). You can see a bit more of Stuart and the legend that is Stanley by watching a little film we made last year, all about damsons.

We use the Loch Ness variety, some grown in Norfolk, some in Suffolk and others grown by a man called Craig at his family farm in Essex. If you were disappointed by the lack of opportunities to wear Speedos and eat choc-ices this summer, spare a thought for the humble blackberry, who is particularly sensitive to the weather. Luckily, despite the strange summer, Craig managed to grow enough of the juicy berries to make sure this local recipe was complete.

Click here to learn more about blackberries in our home made film dedicated to them.

The apples in this recipe are from Essex, Herefordshire, and Suffolk & Kent. We get some from a man called Henry, pictured above next to an apple press that was used in the olden days (his family started growing apples in 1728). He supplies us with Cox, Gala, Bramley, Spartan and Russett varieties and the resulting juice gives this recipe an underlying richness. If you like you can watch a film about Henry and his orchards here. The clip features loads of apples and a solitary woodpecker.