Autumn fruit

Mmmm apple crumble! Just the job for Sunday lunch. I've just used the only apples that we have from the garden - this year has been such a disaster for fruit around here, and I had such high hopes. The lovely crab apple tree at J's mums has produced no fruit this year and there have been no plums either.
It seems as if it has been a general problem this year in the UK as has been documented on the BBC web page here.

I was hoping to make an apple and blackberry crumble as that is my favourite at this time of year but..

... even the hedgerows have produced a poor crop of fruit this year. So I was really surprised, when on my walk with Beanie this afternoon, I found a few blackberries! There is still a lot of fruit to ripen, and the berries that were ripe are very small in comparison to last year, but gradually as we went on our way collecting a few berries here and a few there we came home with enough fruit to fill a bowl.

and I had some lovely stained fingers!

As we still have to eat the crumble, being too full to eat a pud at lunch time,

I think I will make a compote with the fruit and eat it along side the crumble, yum!

Have you had the same problem with fruit this season?