Voted Food & Drink Awards Best Foraging Education Provider – England South.
Our courses feature in the BBC Countryfile Magazine Best UK Foraging Courses
& The Wild Side of Life is in the The Sunday Telegraph Top 5 Foraging Course Providers!
SPACES NOW AVAILABLE FOR 2025
BOOK EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT
Members can attend up to 4 field trips (Saturdays, with the last being on a Sunday) which will give a broad seasonal overview and make sure there is something new on the table for every season. Knowledge and skills will be taught in order to locate, identify and prepare a wide variety of wild foods, medicinal plants and other natural raw materials, whilst foraging for them sustainably.
Throughout the spring, summer and early autumn we will encounter shoots, roots, fungi, berries and nuts and learn how to use them for food, medicine and raw materials… learning a little about their place in tradition and folklore too! Whether preparing for a dinner party or a survival situation, this is going to give you the inspiration, confidence and skills that you need!
Pignut – Got it!
“… heartfelt thanks for running such an informative, engaging and perennial course. Wilhelmina had a wonderful time!.. the best birthday gift and one that keeps on giving. Our walks are flavoured with sorrel, perfumed with wild garlic and textured by sedges (with edges).”
Steve Bunn
2025 DATES & TIMES: (Members may attend all days)
Saturday 12th April 12.30 PM to 4.30 PM
Saturday 14th June, 12.30 PM to 4.30 PM
Saturday 16th August, 12.30 PM to 4.30 PM
Sunday 14th September, 11.00 AM to 4.30 PM*
*note; the last day is a longer day to incorporate early season mushrooms.
Gift certificates are available from Dec 2023
Cost of membership for 2024: £200:00
To book email fred@thewildsideoflife.co.uk
using the subject line – FORAGERS CLUB
The special 4th meeting in early September will be an opportunity to discover some early autumn season mushrooms as well as autumnal fruits, and hence this is a longer day. We plan to be able to share wild food canapes and drinks towards the end of that day too!
There are many good sources of wild food that become available in the spring and early summer… tasty vitamin enriched green salad plants, nutty underground tubers, delicate tasting shoots and flower heads and early soft fruits. Some good edible fungi also occur in the spring and summer, like St. George’s mushroom and chicken of the woods. Some are gourmet foods all by themselves, served by the best restaurants in the country, and with a little knowledge you can learn to harvest them for yourself too.
The Spring & Summer Forager’s Club delivers:
- First hand advice from Fred the Forager, who is an acknowledged expert on fungi and poisonous plants, so that you can identify your finds properly, safely and with confidence.
- Experience of foraging in different habitats; riverside, woodlands and wildflower meadows.
- 12 months support via email to help you to identify your finds – just send in your pictures for identification and usage tips.
- Information and advice on the correct methods for cooking, preserving and storing wild foods and medicinal herb harvests.
- Direction on how to gather plants and fungi sustainably without damaging future populations.
- Members can bring one non-paying guest on one of the days, including on the last day when we hope to share foraged food and cocktails or liqueurs!
Pignut – these are delicious; a spring edible from under the earth!
Young ox-eye daisy, reminding me a lot of rocket!
Make the most of decades of foraging experience to bring foraged wild goodness to your table. I have taught thousands of people how to forage. I am also the author of “Poisonous Plants in Great Britain”, so joining the club is an opportunity to gain confidence in foraging safely as well as learning how to avoid all the harmful look-alikes, making sure you take home only the freshest of gourmet ingredients!
Bookings can be made simply by sending an email to Fred@thewildsideoflife.co.uk (put FORAGER’S CLUB in the subject line). Your place will be secure once full payment has been received via bank transfer (preferred) or PayPal.
Please note gift certificates for 2025 are now available, price £200.00
If you have already received a gift certificate for this course then your place has been paid for but you must get in touch using the email above to reserve your place.
