Will it be a Wimbledon without British strawberries? You may not like the plastic-wrapped rural landscape, but it is down to farmers like him that we have British fruit for half the year, rather than just the outdoor season of five or six weeks. And this year, it's only thanks to polytunnels that we have any commercial production at all. Yet even in the polytunnels conditions are tough. It gets very humid in the tunnels and usually we would lift the sides to let the air circulate, but it's just been too wet this year. Plus the ambient temperature this morning was 12C. It's more akin to April than June. The fruit can't ripen well, it goes off more quickly, and the flavour is less good than usual. The hot spell at the beginning of the month sent yields shooting up, but now production, which should have increased further, has instead halved. Raspberries and blackberries are also delayed but, growing raised on canes rather than on the ground, they are less at risk of damage. "We are all hoping for a blazing hot August," says Mr Drummond phlegmatically. You don't want to talk to me about a drought right now. It's not just soft fruit that's suffering, he adds. We had floods in April that washed away a field of potatoes. So we planted them again, and the Wye burst its banks and washed them away again last weekend. Those that haven't gone are submerged in water so they'll rot. We've lost nearly 20 per cent of our crop. With potatoes costing £1,000 an acre to plant, it's a hefty loss, and one seen by many farmers with the lower parts of fields under water. Not that all farmers are unhappy. William Chase, who farms cider apples and beef cattle as well as the potatoes to make the super-trendy Chase Vodka, told me: "Farmers are always moaning. It's either too wet or too dry. But it was looking really dry before. This [rain] will make a massive difference to the yield of cereals and apples. But, amazingly, Mr Chase's rainfall gauge is still down on 2011 at this time. And last year's rain fell mostly in January and February, so the water table was higher and the tanks full, ready for irrigation. Instead, this year's late rain has meant that the Rivers Teme and Severn, as well as the Wye, have burst their banks, damaging crops in low-lying fields. Large yields are more important than ever now, as scarcity doesn't necessarily lead to a hike in prices, he says. Twenty years ago everything was traded locally. Now it's a global market. If we don't produce the goods, the supermarkets will source them from abroad. The world's a small place when it comes to food. Farmers with crops to bring in now are struggling, too. Harvesting early crops will be really frustrating. It's just too wet to get out in the field. Come now, surely farmers are made of sterner stuff than that. What's wrong with pulling on a pair of green wellies and getting out there? If we did it all by hand or with a horse and cart it would be fine. But tractors do too much damage in the wet, it ruins the structure of the soil. Chase's son Harry adds, "It's like keeping your carpet clean - you wouldn't walk all over it with dirty wellies on. If you're a farmer you'd never dream of driving on wet land. It breaks through to the subsoil. So farmers like Paul Southall, who farms nearby in the Severn Valley, can still bring in their hand-picked summer purple sprouting broccoli, but even this relatively robust crop is a week behind (see telegraph.co.uk/food for more). Which at least as the advantage of prolonging the season. As for those strawberries, we need to be understanding, believes Mr Drummond. Everyone expects perfection when it's not achievable. And cross your fingers for a sunny July. Strawberry flair It takes more than a little rain to stop me eating British strawberries, and if they need a little help then there are plenty of easy ways to improve them. Make sure the strawberries are at room temperature, not fridge cold. There's no doubt that washing strawberries dulls the flavour. If you must, then let them dry for a good hour spread on a tea towel - and not in the fridge. A few drops of lemon juice (from a proper lemon, not a squeezy plastic one) and a sprinkling of sugar will do wonders to lift less-than-perfect strawbs. Heat 2 tbsp of honey, 2 tbsp of water and 2 tbsp of sugar until the sugar dissolves. Bubble for a few seconds, cool and stir in 1-3 tsp of orange flower or rose water to taste. Spoon over strawberries and let it macerate for a few minutes. Bash mint leaves and sugar in a pestle and mortar to make a bright green sugar to sprinkle over a bowl of mixed strawberries and cubes of fresh pineapple.