There's something almost poetic about the bramble being, in some sense, a nuisance, just a sprawling weed, propagating itself across hedges, woodland, roadsides and scrubland, yet every summer they provide a glut of blackberries (aka brambles), probably the best and most accessible wild fruit available. The bramble might be a pesky weed, but it's also the King of Hedgerow Fruits. You could quite feasibly pick a few kilos of them on a late summer's afternoon, returning happy with purple stained fingers (and probably a few grazes and cuts on your hands!)
Yes, harvesting them can be a thorny affair due to the sharp spines on the stalks, making the berries in the middle of the patch often off-limits. The huge bramble patch behind our house grows to about 2 metres tall over an area of roughly 10m x 15m. It's a typical bramble bush and is thick with mature stalks covered in thorns (the more mature the plant, the bigger the thorns.) The side next to the public footpath is easily accessible, but also the most frequently picked by casual passers-by! As the gradually ripening berries come into condition, one needs to be quick to get them before others do, ie: first thing in the morning.
The challenge with most bramble patches is that they're usually part of a hedgerow and therefore only easily accessed from one side, as is the case with our home patch, with a burn on one side and thicket of woodland/shrubbery on the other. You can see literally thousands of berries but most of them are frustratingly out of reach. Unless you resolve to cut or scythe down the the whole bush from one side to another as you pick them, you'll never reach most of them. The berries all ripen at different times though, so even if you did this, you'd end up destroying a lot of ripening berries.
Last summer, after having depleted the supply from the easy-access path side, I was tormented by the clear sight of dozens of big, perfectly ripe, plump berries on the far side of the patch. They would be obtainable if only I could get through the undergrowth somehow and reach the other side. I was determined to find a way. I walked in a big circle around the thicket and with some effort thrashed a path of sorts through some elder, broom and rosebay willow herb to get to the elusive brambles. I'm hoping that no-one else in our neighbourhood has the same idea, and that I can enjoy exclusive access to the back of the bramble patch!
My toddler, aged 2, has already developed bramble fever!
I have fond memories of picking brambles last season with my daughter, then 1 year old, strapped to my front in the baby carrier. We were nestled in at our exclusive spot at the back of the home patch with tuppaware in hand. She was enjoying the front row view of the foraging and was simply helping herself to brambles from the tub as I filled it, shoving them in, on and around her mouth. It must've taken about twice as long to fill the tub but I didn't mind (and I scoffed a fair few myself.) We both returned to the house grinning, with purple stains around our mouths. She's since outgrown the baby carrier and is enjoying daily trips to pick brambles behind the house. Most of the time, we don't manage to bring any home, they get devoured there and then. And touch wood, no-one else has discovered our secret path to the back of the patch, yet.