Description
IMPORTANT: Due to corona virus travel restrictions this event is ONLY available to residents of Dumfries and Galloway. DO NOT BOOK if you are not resident in the region as I will not accept your booking and will take a £10 administration fee to return your payment.
Risk assessed, socially distanced guided events for up to 15 people are permitted in Scotland. See here and here. This event is capped at 10 places and run in line with Galloway Wild Foods’ Corona Virus policy.
A guided forage exploring coastal spring greens, seaweeds, shellfish, succulents and herbs.
Coastal foraging in the spring offers perhaps the best range of healthy, gourmet wild foods of the year. Both novice and more experienced foragers will find this event inspiring, fun, and hugely informative.
Over the course of the walk, you will receive expert tuition on how to find, identify, mindfully harvest, preserve, cook and enjoy 30+ wild edibles. Highlights include shellfish, seaweeds, coastal succulent plants and maritime herbs. This is a fun, informative and truly memorable evening. Wellies are essential.
Note: The late timing of this event allows us to catch a very low spring tide which allows us an excellent chance of harvesting razor clams. We will finish the walk eating foraged picnics and admiring the last of the sunset.
Spoot clams
As with all Galloway Wild Foods events, this walk is guided by Mark Williams who has been teaching about foraging for over 25 years.
Read – watch – listen to more about Mark’s events
Time/Date: Monday 29th March 2021, 4.30pm – 9.00pm. The walk is timed for a super-low tide to maximise our encounters with seaweed and shellfish.
Meeting Place: The exact location will be emailed to ticket holders during the week before the event – but you should plan to be near Gatehouse of Fleet in the postcode area DG6 4UE. More info about visiting and staying in Galloway here.
Expect: About 1.5 miles of gentle walking over mixed coastal terrain. The route is suitable for anyone of moderate fitness who is comfortable moving over rocky foreshore, slippery rocks and muddy sand flats.
Learn: Seaweeds, shellfish and maritime plants: Finding, identification, poisonous lookalikes, mindful harvesting, expert tips, folklore/traditional uses, modern gourmet/medicinal uses, nutrition, processing, recipes, cooking tips. Inevitably, the wider politics around foraging and food will come up too.
Covid 19 Policy: Please see here for the latest GWF policy around events, social distancing and what happens in the event of cancellation due to C19 . This event is fully risk-assessed and very low risk in terms of transmission.
Eat/drink: I think it is important to bring the wild foods we encounter to life by not just talking about them, but by eating and drinking them as we learn about them, and usually come with a hefty bag of lovingly prepared treats and tasters to share. This has become more difficult to do under social distancing, but I still bring some carefully considered foraged tipples and tasters for during the walk and full individual picnic box brimming with wild seasonal delicacies for after. Expect seaweed dashi broth, coastal sushi, pickled and fermented greens, laverbread, foraged cocktails and lots more. All dietary requirements can be catered for, provided you let me know when you book.
Wild cookery and foraged cocktails on the shore
Bring: Wellies (essential – you will get wet feet if you don’t have them), waterproofs, warm clothes, water. It can get pretty cold by the sea in March so bring plenty of layers. Your learning and enjoyment may also benefit from bringing camera, notebook, field guide (plants), small basket/cloth bag. If you make any foraged delights you wish to share with the group, please bring them along!
Places are limited and events usually sell out fast – booking is essential.
Gift vouchers are available here
If you already have a gift voucher it can be used to pay for this event (in whole or in part) at the checkout.
Seaweeds laid out to reflect tidal zonation
Please read the following information before booking a Galloway Wild Foods event.
EVENT LOCATION
The general event location is provided in the event description, and in your booking confirmation. This location is usually an approximate location (eg. “Within 30 minutes drive of XXX”), so that you can consider and plan the area you need to get to prior to booking.
For general information on visiting Galloway for events, including recommended accommodation, see here.
Detailed event information, including exact meeting place, will be sent to the email address you provide on booking in the week prior to the event. This allows me to account for the often fickle nature of wild plants and fungi and select the optimum location for our walk – which can be especially important for fungi forays.
It is important that you add mark@gallowaywildfoods.com and markleewilliams@googlemail.com to your email contacts/whitelist or the information email may get caught in your spam filters. This is extremely important if you have a .hotmail email account as they are notorious for having very sensitive spam filters.
The detailed event information email will be sent in the week before the event – sometimes as little as 3 days prior to the event. There is no need to badger me for it – I will send it! If you haven’t received it by within 3 days of the event, check your spam folders. If it isn’t there drop me an email – mark@gallowaywildfoods.com.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Any cancellation must be sent by email to mark@gallowaywildfoods.com, quoting the event title, date and order number (viewable on your booking confirmation.
Galloway Wild Foods is under no obligation to refund, rebook or reinstate vouchers for no-shows or cancellations within 14 days of the event. If I can refill the place at short notice, I will pay a full refund less 10% to cover admin & PayPal fees, or send a voucher to the full value of the tickets. Please state your preference in your cancellation email.
If you cancel or amend a booking giving 14 days or more notice, you will receive a full refund less 5% to cover Paypal fees, or a Gift Voucher to the full value of your booking.Please state your preference in your cancellation email. Information on using gift vouchers is here.
In the unlikely event that an event is cancelled by GWF you will receive full refund, exchange or voucher.
Galloway Wild Foods is not liable for any travel, accommodation or other costs you might incur if an event has to be cancelled. We recommend that you take out travel insurance if your financial commitment to travel/accommodation is substantial.
The only weather that causes events to be cancelled is dangerous wind. In these instances you will be notified as early as possible.
INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE ON BOOKING
Please provide the following information for all members of your party in the “Additional Information” box on the payment page :
- Relevant medical conditions
- Mobility issues
- Eating restrictions – differentiating between preferences (e.g. vegetarian), intolerances (e.g. gluten intolerance) and serious allergies (e.g. peanut allergy), and clearly stating if an allergy is potentially life-threatening. All requirements can usually be catered for, but these differentiations are required for risk assessments.
It is your responsibility to provide accurate information about all members of your party. If you write “None” in the additional information box, I will assume all attendees are omnivorous and have no relevant medical conditions or mobility issues.
All information is kept private, securely, and in line with GDPR – more information on this here.
WHAT TO BRING ON A WALK
Please ensure that all members of your party come suitably dressed for the weather, season and event.
On all walks, for your comfort and safety, walking boots/wellies, waterproofs and spare clothes are necessary. I always recommend wellies for coastal foraging events – you are likely to get wet feet if you don’t have them!
Please bring your own drinking water.
Your learning and enjoyment may also benefit from bringing a camera, notebook, field guide, small basket/cloth bag. Feel free to bring along any of your own wild food preparations to share and talk about.
DOGS
Most GWF events are suitable for one dog on a lead.
Even on walks that are suitable for dogs on leads, because we tend to move very slowly as we learn and forage, dogs often get bored/agitated/cold by the slow pace. One thing we absolutely can’t have is an unhappy noisy dog on an event.
Where events are suitable for dogs, I restrict it to one per event as there is no way of knowing whether dogs will get on with one another. Dog places are offered on a first-come-first-served basis.
With all this in mind, if you would like to bring a dog, please note this on the booking form in the “Additional Information” box (along with human dietary, mobility, medical info) and I will get contact you to let you know suitability and availability.
If being able to bring your dog is a deal-breaker for you, please email me before you book.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further information on Galloway Wild Foods Terms and Conditions can be found here.
If you have specific questions that are not answered here, please contact mark on mark@gallowaywildfoods.com, or if you are running late on the day.
