Description
A guided foray exploring the delicious, healthy and surprising range of edible plants around the woods, coast and hedgerow of Ardkinglas Estate on Loch Fyne, Argyll (1 hr drive from Glasgow, and on a bus route). Enjoy a wild food picnic, wild flower champagne and foraged cocktails on the loch side afterwards.
May is an exciting time for foragers, with many wild greens and blossoms in their prime. On this guided walk you will be introduced to a vibrant array of spring woodland, hedgerow and coastal herbs, their traditional and modern uses and how to considerately and safely harvest and use them. You will enjoy a wild food tasting picnic and wildcrafted drinks with views over Loch Fyne afterwards.
As with all Galloway Wild Foods events, this walk is guided by Mark Williams who has been teaching about foraging for over 30 years, specialising in making foraging fun, accessible and delicious.
“A massive thank you to you for the coastal foraging event. I’ve been on a few forages and this was way the best one. I loved your enthusiasm, your generosity with sharing information, the fact that you gave us food and drink from the moment we started, throughout the event and a wonderful picnic at the end. It really was absolutely delicious. It was absolutely wonderful afternoon, and I felt on quite a high afterwards … I’ve been telling all my friends…”– Danielle, Coastal Foraging Walk attendee
- Read – watch – listen to more about Mark’s events
- Buy a gift voucher that can be used to book this event.
Image ©GallowayWildFoods.com
Location: Ardkinglas House, Cairndow, Argyll, PA26 8BG (See map tab). Ticket holders will be emailed detailed instructions of our meeting place in the week before the event. Our venue is a stunning country estate on the banks of Loch Fyne, with a wonderfully diverse range of plants to explore.
Enjoying wild bento boxes after the guided walk on the shores of Loch Fyne
What to expect: About 1 mile of very gentle walking mostly on paths, with the odd small off-piste section, with lots of stops and including foraged treats and tasters and a wild food tasting picnic at the end. The route is suitable for anyone of moderate fitness who is comfortable on their feet for a few hours (bring a portable chair if you like a seat).
Accessibility: Sorry, this event is not suitable for most mobility scooters as it includes steps and a section on gravelly foreshore, but thanks to the Association of Foragers there is subsidy for 1 carer/support worker place. Please email me on mark@gallowaywildfoods.com before booking if you have questions about accessibility/suitability, or would like to book a carer/support worker place (you will need to provide evidence of carer status).
Learn:
- Spring woodland, hedgerow and coastal plants, and a few seaweeds*
- How to sustainably tap birch and sycamore trees for sap (though the sap rise may be finished by this time of year)
- Finding, identification, poisonous lookalikes
- How to be a safe, legal, sustainable and considerate forager
- Expert foraging tips
- Folklore/traditional uses of wild plants
- Modern gourmet and medicin
al uses of wild plants - Nutrition from wild plants
- Processing, recipes, cooking tips for a wide range of spring shoots and blossoms
- Wild cocktail tips and tipples
- Inevitably, the wider politics around foraging and food will come up too
- When time and weather allow, we lay out and label our finds to serve as a souvenir and aide-memoire of the afternoon’s discoveries.
*Please note, the second half of this walk is coastal with lots of fascinating maritime plants, many of which feature in The Coastal Forager, but Argyll’s sea lochs don’t tend to offer a big range of tasty seaweeds. We will explore what seaweeds are on show, and I will bring along some more for us to taste and learn from, but this is not a major focus of the coastal element of this walk.
The Coastal Forager covers many of the species we will explore during the walk.
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. To this end, the afternoon includes a wild food tasting picnic, which we eat on the lawn overlooking Loch Fyne, or in the Edwardian kitchens if the weather is poor. I also carry a very hefty bagful of lovingly prepared treats, tasters and tipples to share during the walk. These are both delicious and educational, and the walk is more like guided grazing, a gentle imbibing of the landscape, than a route march! All dietary requirements can be catered for, and you can inform me of these at the checkout. Below is a typical wild bento box from a spring foray.
Wild bento box, served on Galloway Wild Foods events. Typically these include 30 to 40 different locally foraged ingredients that illuminate what we have explored on the guided walk.
Bring: Stout footwear, waterproofs, water. 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.
If you already have a gift voucher it can be used to pay for this event (in whole or in part) at the checkout.
Explore wild coastal vegetables