You will need your own transport
The farm is on Stapehill Road outside Wimborne. There is no useful bus at our start and finish times, so a car, a lift share or a bike is essential.
A day with the harvest team
Life on the farm
What a picking day actually looks like — and what people do with the rest of their summer while they are here.
The shape of a day
Eight until five, six days a week
Blueberry picking has a rhythm to it. Here is roughly how a day goes once the season is in full swing.
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08:00
Briefing and out to the rows
The team gathers, gets told which block is being picked and what the fruit is doing that morning, and pairs up. Containers and trays go out with you.
Mornings are the best picking of the day — the fruit is cool and firm, and it comes away cleanly.
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Mid-morning
Into the rhythm
Two people to a row, working from either side. You learn to read a bush fast: the ripe ones are the dusty blue-black ones that come away under a thumb without being pulled. Everything else stays for the next pass.
Full 1kg containers go into trays; trays go to the end of the row and get weighed in against your name.
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Middle of the day
Breaks, water and shade
It gets hot in an open Dorset field in July. There are breaks through the day, plenty of water, and shade to sit in. A hat is not optional as far as we are concerned.
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Afternoon
Re-packing for the customer
Alongside picking, the day includes re-packing fruit from the 1kg containers into the smaller punnets our customers actually buy. It is a change of pace and a chance to be out of the sun for a bit.
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17:00
Weights in, day done
Last trays weighed, containers stacked, and that is you. Your kilos and bonus for the day appear in the worker app — you know before you get home how you did.
Days off
Fridays, and usually Saturdays
You are half an hour from some of the best coastline in England. Bournemouth and Poole are close, Studland and the Purbecks are a short drive, and the New Forest is the other way.
The team tends to do things together — the beach, mostly. People come back for a second and third season, and a fair few of the friendships outlast the summer.
Practicalities
Things worth knowing before you come
Accommodation is not provided
We do not have housing or camping on the farm, so you will need somewhere local to stay. Wimborne, Ferndown and the Bournemouth and Poole area are all within a sensible drive.
Dress for a field, not an office
Sun hat, sunscreen, refillable water bottle, sturdy shoes that you do not mind getting muddy, and a waterproof for the days it turns. Layers — mornings can be cool before it warms up.
Blueberries stain, and so does sunburn
Two things every new picker learns in week one: wear clothes you do not love, and put the sunscreen on before you think you need it.
Fancy a summer of it?
The 2026 season has finished. We will be hiring again in April 2027 — two weeks or ten, whatever you can do.