Open Farm Sunday event at Wilkin and Sons in Tiptree

More than 2,000 people flocked to Wilkin and Sons in Tiptree for an open farm event on Sunday.

People travelled from Tiptree and beyond for the big day.

Visitors enjoyed an exclusive trip on a tractor trailer around the strawberry fields.

The work didn’t stop because of the event, as farm workers were out on the fields picking strawberries by hand in the sun.

During peak picking season, hundreds of pickers can harvest more than 300,000 strawberries a day.

Researchers from the University of Essex demonstrated their robotic picker, which is being developed to learn the skills of the human eye to be like an experienced picker.

After the slow start to the season, the strawberries are now said to be producing a great crop of fruit.

Visitors were able to compare the flavour and texture of four different varieties of strawberries.

Others enjoyed a gin-tasting session at the Tiptree gin stall and some learnt about Tiptree preserves and discussed different cooking ideas.

Youngsters had fun sounding police car sirens and climbing into the cab of one of the largest Tiptree trucks.

The business is part of the Linking the Environment and Farming (LEAF), which encourages businesses to take part in the Open Farm Sunday event every year to showcase the work they are doing.

Chris Newenham, joint managing director of Wilkin and Sons said: “Encouraging families to visit farms and see how their food is grown is key to the ethos of LEAF’s Open Farm Sunday; a nationwide event and Tiptree is proud to be a LEAF demonstration farm.

“We are grateful to all those who brought a stand or a demonstration to support our Open Farm Sunday - Big Bear cider, WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust, local farmers Robin and James Waters who brought examples of their arable crops, Rural Police, food vendors including the famous Millins Butchers of Tiptree and all the Tiptree team.”