What We Do:
Whether you are looking to learn new life skills or just to have some fun, we think we have something to suit everyone and we can also deliver a unique and memorable experience for team building days. The Wild Side of Life’s foraging courses feature in BBC Countryfile Magazine’s UK Top 10 Foraging Courses and in The Telegraph’s Top 5!
We offer a mix of courses with a strong emphasis on empowerment through connecting to the world that we live in through natural resources and direct experiences – something that we see as vital for humanity. As one of the last remaining species of Great Apes, we believe that a direct connection to the land and environment where we live is vital for our continued wellbeing; and that we need to cultivate knowledge and experience so that we will be better able to relate to that land which is our habitat and our home.
- Mushroom identification and field mycology courses
- Wild food foraging
- Herbal medicine workshops
- Greenwood crafts and coracle building (subject to availability – different things run every year)
- Primitive metalsmithing – subject to availability – the more requests we get the more we do!
- Survival skills & wilderness crafts – again, subject to availability
- Team building, one to one mentoring, your special day (contact us)
- Public Speaking for your Society or event
The Wild Side of Life was founded, and is run, by Fred Gillam FLS – also known as ‘Fred the Forager’.
Fred is the author of Poisonous Plants in Great Britain (2008) and has written numerous articles for magazines and journals like The Mushroom and Power of Plants Magazine. Fred and his partner Natascha run the UKI Medicinal Mushrooms Conference each year and a community herbal dispensary in Wiltshire, England. Fred is also the Founder of the UKI Mycotherapy Practitioners Register. At The Wild Side of Life, Fred teaches foraging and herbal medicine. He has had three medical botany lectures published by the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, of which he is a long-standing member, contributed to ‘The Herbalist’ and the ‘Journal of the International Register of Consultant Herbalists & Homeopaths’ and given numerous lectures on medicinal mushrooms and the microbiome to professional bodies and herb schools in the UK & Ireland. As a public speaker he is comfortable with any group size from small informal clubs to full auditorium audiences of up to 2,500 people.
To book Fred as a speaker at your conference or event; email Fred@thewildsideoflife.co.uk
The Wild side of life is an ethical business. Our work has now proudly supported:
The Childline Ball, London
BBC Children in Need, Carfest South, Hampshire
Toolbuzz Travelling Museum Project, Wiltshire
Bath & North-East Somerset (B&NES) Carers Centre
Festival of Learning, Bath
SCAN – Swindon Climate Action Network
The Chiltern Society
The Richard Jeffries Museum, Swindon
The Coracle Society
Wellbeing in Nature at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust (Fred helped to found this in 2008)
Marlborough Downs: Space for Nature
Avon Needs Trees
The Wild Side of Life has provided media content, as well as team-building and training for:
The National Trust
Forestry England
BBC
ITV (Countrywise / For the Love of Britain)
Chris Evan’s Carfest
Tate Britain
Charlie Bighams
Greencore Foods
National Federation of Women’s Institutes
Medical Herbalism / Integrative Healthcare bodies:
(NIMH, AMH, IRH, IRCH, ARCH)
