I've started experimenting with my own pickles. I was lucky enough to be in New York during a pickle festival and would love to recreate what I had there. Very crunchy and fresh tasting compared to the flacid offerings over here!
I've started with other veg than cucumbers because I can't find anywhere to buy pickling cucumbers, not that I've looked very hard so far. Anyone know anywhere in London I might find small cucumbers for pickling?
And for anyone else interested in making their own, I've found these blogs to be valuable resources:
http://foodinjars.com/
http://picklefreak.com/
The Pickle Freak is somewhat of a missionary, hoping to spread the good word in the UK. She directed me to a great book called The Joy Of Pickling. It has loads of recipes and a great section on general techniques.