Description
A guided forage exploring early coastal spring seaweeds, shellfish, succulent plants and maritime herbs, with a wild food tasting picnic in a beautiful location.
Exploring coastal foodscapes
Coastal foraging in the spring offers perhaps the best range of healthy, gourmet wild foods of the year.
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, all of which feature in The Complete Coastal Forager. You have the option to order a signed copy as you book and I will bring it along on the day.
Highlights include shellfish, seaweeds, coastal succulent plants and maritime herbs. This is a fun, informative and truly memorable afternoon and evening. Both novice and more experienced foragers will find this event inspiring, fun, and hugely informative. Wellies are essential.
Note: The timing of this event allows us to catch a very low spring tide which allows us a good chance of harvesting razor clams, which is a LOT of fun! (Even if you don’t want to eat them!)
Check out the video below for an idea of what to expect…
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.
A selection of coastal wild foods from the summer. ©GallowayWildFoods.com
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, Galloway, SW Scotland. There is information about visiting and staying in Galloway for Galloway Wild Foods events here. Sorry, but there are no public transport options that will get you to the start point for this event, but if you can get to Gatehouse of Fleet I can sometimes give you a lift to the start.
Learn about seaweeds
What to expect and accessibility: About 1.5 miles of gentle walking over mixed coastal terrain, 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 moving over rocky foreshore, slippery rocks and muddy sand flats. Our route is exposed and can it can get cold if the wind is blowing – bring lots of layers! The event date and timings are carefully chosen to catch one of the lowest tides of the the year, which is also why the event ends around dusk. Sorry, this event is not suitable for most mobility scooters, but you may be able to do most of it in a very rugged scooter. Please email me on mark@gallowaywildfoods.com if you have questions about accessibility/suitability.
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.
Meeting with remarkable plants in beautiful locations
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, so I come with a hefty bag of lovingly prepared treats and tasters to share throughout the walk. These are not only tasty treats, but serve to illustrate how to use the wild foods we are exploring. During the walk we will pause to enjoy a wild food tasting picnic, comprising dozens of lovingly foraged and prepared treats served in your own bento box . All dietary requirements can be catered for, and these can be noted when booking.
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. Expect savoury tart, sushi, pickles, ferments, edible flowers, seaweed snacks, salads, wild seed cake and lots more!
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 a camera, notebook, field guide (plants), small basket/bucket. 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.
Sea sandwort, mid April, Galloway. The whole shoot is edible. ©GallowayWildFoods.com
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