OK, I know they're probably lurking just below the surface ready to spring into view as soon as we have three warm days in a row, but today for the first time I was able to look down the length of my plot and see no brambles.
2 years of scratched arms, thorny splinters and the like is now over. I've now got about 1/2 under cultivation, I'll break the ground on another 1/4 this year and the final 1/4 I'll break next winter.
Hooray.