As a result of the proliferation of polytunnels across our green and pleasant land, the English strawberry season, which once lasted just six weeks, now carries on until October. While the tunnels help extend the soft fruit season and protect the strawberries from the elements, not everyone is happy about their visual impact on the countryside.

Nevertheless, the National Farmers Union has declared these plastic protectors the saviour of this year's soft fruit crop, worth about £18m a year. If had not been for those unsightly sheets of plastic stretching across the countryside, at least 1,700 tons of strawberries would have been lost in the unusually heavy rains of May.

Fortunately, Oxfordshire is not plagued with the acres and acres of polytunnels that counties such as Herefordshire have attracted; nevertheless, they are certainly proliferating. Many local farmers are now using them to help bring on the first crop and protect the late autumn varieties from frost. They speak highly of the results. The fact that soft fruit grown this way does not have to be sprayed so regularly is seen as a very positive way forward.

Growers using polytunnels speak of reducing their use of pesticides by at least 50 per cent, and by extending the length of the strawberry season by several months they are now successfully competing with foreign imports. They are also making a big impact on the food miles that strawberries were responsible for before the introduction of polytunnels.

No doubt the arguments about the aesthetics of the polytunnel will rage for some considerable time to come. What I doubt anyone will argue about is the taste of an English strawberry eaten when still warm from the sun. Strawberries and summer sunshine are synonomous. But this taste can deteriorate. It doesn't take long for a strawberry to lose that glorious shine and fragrance and begin to look unappetising, which is why it's important to purchase them on the day they are picked, if you have not grown your own.

This is easily done if you visit your local pick-your-own or farm shop. Buying them this way ensures that there is nothing fresher or more fragrant. A dish brimming with freshly picked strawberries is certainly the perfect fruit to pass round while watching the World Cup.

If you live in the Buscot Park area (midway between Lechlade and Faringdon) you will be offered strawberries cultivated in the open field and not in a polytunnel. At this fruit farm manager Roland Patterson points out he can't possibly use polytunnels. They would spoil the aesthetic appeal of the late-18th-century house that dominates the grounds. Roland protected his strawberries by covering them with extra fleece during early spring and they are doing particularly well now. Symphony is the variety he grows, as they seem to suit the Buscot Park soil which adds, he is sure, its own special taste to the fruit.

Charles Gee and his sons at Medley Manor Farm, Binsey, don't use polytunnels either, yet they have a really good succulent crop this year. Charles likes things to grow naturally when possible; he certainly likes his strawberries to have direct contact with the sun. He is convinced they taste better when exposed to the open air.

The strawberries at Peachcroft Farm, Radley, are grown without the aid of polytunnels as well. Farmer Bill Homewood relies on the different varieties to extend the season and excite the taste buds.

Paul Clarke, the horticultural manager of Rectory Farm Pick-Your-Own, Stanton St John, uses polytunnels to get the early crops started and help protect the late crops, but keeps the tunnels hidden behind trees where they can't be seen. He sees them as a great asset as long as there are not large swathes of them covering the countryside.

Farmer Orlin Atanasov, who looks after all the soft fruit at Millets Farm Centre, Frilford, use polytunnels too, but as soon as the weather heats up they are opened to enable the strawberries to ripen in the sun. These are ideal for people who have problems bending down, as the plants have been raised several feet using a table-top method, making picking really easy.

During the summer months, Orlin begins work at 5am in a bid to get that day's strawberries on the shelves of the farm shop by the time it opens. He says freshness is one thing that farm shops and pick-your-owns can be really proud of and something that supermarkets can never match. As he says: "In the life of something as fragile and aromatic as a strawberry, which requires gentle handling, 24 hours can make all the difference. The furthest our strawberries have travelled is quarter of a mile from field to shop. You can't get anything fresher than that," he said proudly.

Q Gardens, at Milton Hill, is known throughout Oxfordshire for its cherries, which begin ripening during the first week in July. Because we have had none of the late frosts that can affect the blossoms, it's going to be a great year for cherries. Staff at Q Gardens believe we are in for a bumper strawberry crop too. Although they use a couple of polytunnels at Q Gardens to get some of the plants going at the beginning of the season, they are relying on the sun to ripen them now. By carefully manipulating the varieties, they are convinced that they will still be picking strawberries right through September.

If you get carried away when you visit your favourite pick-your-own and gather far more strawberries than you intended, don't worry for the next few weeks you can pass them round to all those poor souls huddled round the television set watching the World Cup who haven't time to get out into the sun.