They could be weighing and grading diamonds, or lumps of gold or cocaine, such is the seriousness and obvious rigour with which the process is carried out. Instead it is big gooseberries, and it’s not for the faint-hearted.
“It would be amazing to win something,” says Marguerite Benson, on her way in to the annual Egton Bridge gooseberry show in North Yorkshire. “Especially this year because we’ve suffered everything you can – sawfly, wasps, birds got in the cage a week ago. Talk about stress. These little berries that we’ve been nurturing, they’re like our … children.”
