Cherry Tinkers

Braving the wilds of East Kent and the traveller community I went to photograph cherry harvest.
Kent is normally associated with hops and apples and many apples orchards are being lost to development. Even scarcer are cherry orchards. It's hard to miss them as the bright shiny red berries look like rubies.
Faversham cherries are exported all over the world and are much better than the imported varieties that we get in the UK. When you eat seasonal fruit and in particular local produce it's hard to go back to eating strawberries in December and not something that I can say I miss.

Gordon Ramsey recently visited Kent to sample the fruit. He has some classic recipes for cherries click on this link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4382-2297447,00.html

Much of the fruit collection is undertaken by young Polish immigrants but the orchard I visited in Faversham is occupied by a small family of travellers who stay just for the cherry season.
One of the varieties that they pick is Stella.
As the cherry season passes I am watching the plum trees with anticipation for the next crop of fruit for my jam making.