Summer Woods, Coast and Hedgerow Foraging, Loch Fyne, Argyll

£30.00 – £60.00

A guided foray exploring the delicious, healthy and surprising wealth of summer plants and blossoms around the beautiful woods, coast and hedgerows of Ardkinglas Estate on Loch Fyne, Argyll. Enjoy a wild cook-in and foraged tipples afterwards.

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  • CORONA VIRUS: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED

    Why? – In Scotland we are currently at Phase 1 of the route map out of lockdown, which only allows for meetings of 2 households outdoors, within 5 miles of your place of residence. This clearly does not fit with a mixed group. Even if we reach Phase 2 by 19th June, this still does not allow for groups of more than 2 households. To remain within both the letter and spirit of C19 protocols, and to avoid uncertainty, Galloway Wild Foods and Ardkinglas Estate have decided to postpone this event.

    What Happens if I have a Ticket? – Ticket holders will be contacted directly and offered a voucher to the value of their ticket price.  Please see information on Corona Virus and Galloway Wild Foods Events

    When might the event be rearranged? – Rather than try to guess timings for our Phased exit from lockdown in advance, this event will be rescheduled when we have more certainty. Those that were booked on this event will be given first option to rebook when it is rescheduled. You do not have to use your voucher to rebook the same event – it is valid for any GWF event.

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    A guided foray exploring the delicious, healthy and surprising range of early summer plants  around the woods, coast and hedgerow of Ardkinglas Estate on Loch Fyne, Argyll. Enjoy a cook-in of our finds by the loch afterwards.

    Meet: For a 11am start, Tuesday 16th June, Ardkinglas House, Cairndow, Argyll, PA26 8BG. Ticket holders will be emailed full details of our meeting place etc in the week before the event. Event finishes around 3.30pm.

    Expect: Gentle walking on well made paths over 3 hours (maximum 1.5 miles easy walking), followed by and informal al-fresco cook-in of our finds. There will be wild treats and tasters to enjoy throughout. Led by Mark Williams of Galloway Wild Foods.

    Learn: Early summer woodland, hedgerow and coastal plants, and some fungi if we get lucky. 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. 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, although part of this walk is coastal with lots of fascinating maritime plants, 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.

    Summer blossoms

    Read/watch/listen to reviews/films/radio programmes featuring Mark

    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, in addition to the cook-in after the walk, I 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! Often we will make a cocktail of the plants we encounter and drink it in a beautiful spot. The cook-in afterwards serves as both an al-fresco cookery demonstration and a social time to eat together and digest the afternoon’s discoveries with new friends. While I don’t bill this as a full meal, we usually share several dishes and most people leave well filled. All dietary requirements can be catered for, provided you let me know when you book. If the weather isn’t great, we will cook and eat in Ardkinglas House’s splendid Edwardian kitchens.

    Eat and Imbibe the aromatic blossoms and greens of summer hedgerows

    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.

    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.

    • Please read the following information before booking a Galloway Wild Foods event.

    This information applies only to events booked on this website. When booking events involving GWF anywhere other than on this website,  the terms and conditions of the vendor apply, which may be different from the following.

    Galloway Wild Foods is under no obligation to refund or rebook for no-shows or cancellations within 2 weeks of the event.

    In the unlikely event that an event is cancelled by GWF you will receive full refund, exchange or voucher.

    The only weather that causes events to be cancelled is dangerous wind. In these instances you will be notified as early as possible.

    Please provide  the following information for all members of your party in the “Additional Information” box on the payment page :

    • Medical conditions
    • Mobility issues
    • Eating restrictions – differentiating between preferences (e.g. vegetarian), intolerances (e.g. gluten intolerance) and serious allergies (e.g. peanut allergy). All requirements can usually be catered for, but these differentiations are required for risk assessments.

    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.

    My very friendly, calm dog occasionally accompanies me on guided walks. He is not a distraction, and often adds to the entertainment as he tends to like to copy my foraging antics! If you have a specific aversion to dogs, please check with me before booking – I don’t necessarily need to bring him. The one thing that makes him more of a handful is other dogs (he will constantly want to play with them, especially if they are ladies!), so please check in with me first if you might like to bring your own dog.

    Please contact mark on mark@gallowaywildfoods.com or 07900 692 478 if you have specific questions that are not answered here, or if you are running late on the day.

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