Turning life into a bowl of cherries can prove an expensive business if you are buying them out of season. Those early cherries from Spain that come into our shops at the end of March are now so highly prized that the popular Knightsbridge store, Harrods, with its prestigious food hall, was able to sell them at £90 a kilo. That's almost 95p a cherry!

Harrods admitted they were expensive, due mainly to the fact they'd been cultivated in heated tunnels that allow the cherry trees to flower in January, but their price didn't put people off. In fact, they proved so popular this year that Harrods had a waiting list of eager customers clamouring to buy them.

When Q Gardens, Milton Hill, announced the beginning of its cherry season this week people clamoured to get there too but they didn't have to pay a pound a cherry. If you pick your own, they are £4.60 a kilo and £6 ready picked.

Q Gardens, with its farm shop and orchards, stands close to the village of Harwell, which was once described as a medieval village amid a forest of cherries.

Harwell cherries have always been considered outstanding. They are fatter, tastier and more aromatic than cherries grown in most other parts of the country, due mainly to the green-sand soil that runs through the area. Its high potash level helps to impart flavour, and encourage growth.

Harwell has been a centre for cherries for centuries. There are records of cherry harvests going back to the 1600s. It was just after the Second World War, when producing our own food was particularly important, that the acreage of fruit grown in the area really took off.

In the 1950s there were cherry farmers such as Gordon Bosley who farmed 200 acres of cherry trees which gave a total yield of between 80 and 90 tons of fresh fruit each season.

He is said to have had at least 12,000 trees in his orchards, 11,000 of which he planted himself.

These were maintained by a regular staff of six. In the picking season at least 130 casuals were taken on.

The cherries were loaded into vans and sent off all round the country, with some taken to Southampton and put on ocean-going liners.

In addition, Gordon Bosley sold his cherries from a stall on the main Newbury road just outside the atomic energy site.

People fondly recall buses in the 1950s taking workers home which always stopped at the cherry stall during the fruit season on a Friday night.

There are also locals who remember the famous Harwell cherry sales which were always held in the evening during high summer when the fruit was almost ready to harvest.

Messrs Adkin, Belcher and Bowen would put the fruit-laden trees up to auction. Having bought a crop, the buyer had the responsibility of picking it from the trees.

Now Katie Napper and her husband, Rowan, have just 12 acres under cultivation at Q Gardens, which are the remains of what was a huge fruit business based in and around the parish of Harwell.

Nevertheless, fruit enthusiasts can still pick cherries in Harwell without having to bid for the entire crop.

Katie says that people love going into the orchard and picking their own as they are such easy fruit to pick and are so delicious.

The cherry season traditionally begins on midsummer day, which also signifies the end of the asparagus season. The first cherry varieties to mature will usually be the Early Rivers, followed by Stella, Merchant, Colnev and Lapins.

Because cherries are not quite as fragile as strawberries and other soft fruits, they are a great fruit to transport to farmer's markets so look out for the Q Garden cherry stall.

Once she's set up her stall, Katie says all she has to do to attract business is encourage a potential customer to try one, as that first taste is enough to encourage them to end up buying a bagful.

Harwell cherries are so delicious that they sell themselves.

They were certainly a favourite of Winston Churchill, and also the poet John Masefield, who wrote a very long poem that includes a reference to them.

Katie says that it's not just humans who love the cherries. When she went to look at the cherry trees the other morning just as they were starting to ripen, she was not the only one there inspecting the crop. The rooks, blackbirds and thrushes were gathering to inspect these jewels of summer too, and who can blame them.

Surviving a bird attack is one of the many problems cherry farmers encounter. Another is hail. A vicious hail storm could destroy a whole year's crop in just a few minutes. Unfortunately, during the hot days of June, hail storms can hit suddenly almost without warning.

When perfectly ripe, having survived adverse weather conditions and our feathered friends' attempts to get to the crop first, these succulent summer fruits are nothing short of addictive. Eat one and you want another.

Obviously there are loads of recipes that can turn them into puddings, cakes, jams and sauces but most cherry enthusiasts agree that they are best eaten just as they are, though not all cherries are sweet.

There are more than 1,000 known varieties, and not all of them are bright red. Some have a skin and flesh which is almost white, and some, like the Morello, are tart enough to be considered a culinary variety.

The Morello, which ripens towards the end of the season, is probably the most popular of the sour varieties. The acidic tartness and complexity of this fruit makes it ideal to cook with, particularly if you are using Middle Eastern recipes. Q Gardens has just a few trees bearing this variety.

As the cherry season signifies the height of the summer I don't think there's anything else that need be said about them except enjoy life really can be a bowl of cherries.