Our Programmes

Eating Wild

18th August 2024

Facilitator: Jos Fletcher

Join an immersive course on foraging that will inform and delight you, leaving you confident and inspired to explore wild food. This course will go a lot further than nettles and pesto and many unexpected plants will be covered. This course aims to envelop you in the wilderness while learning about it to fully understand the importance and joy of foraging and eating wild food. Lunch and refreshments included.

Event time: 18th August 2024 9:30am - 4:00pm

Interested in spreading the cost of this course? Select Clearpay at checkout.

Not seeing Clearpay? Email info@hawkwoodcollege.co.uk for your payment options.

What Is Included

For the majority of our courses, both residential and non-residential rates are available. Residential options are fully inclusive with all meals provided. Non-residential options include suppers, lunches and all refreshments and exclude B&B. Some of our short day courses, events and talks do not include meals and refreshments. For more details about this course, please see the Practical Information section below.

Additional Activities

Mindful walking through our woodland trails
Meditate in our Woodland Sanctuary
Go on a hike and explore the Cotswolds AONB
Discover surrounding charming market towns

At a Glance

Learn to identify edible and poisonous wild plants and fungi
Preserve and process your bounty in a variety of ways
Immerse yourself in the wild
Nourishing two-course lunch included

What You Will Gain

A scientific understanding of edible and poisonous plants and fungi
Confidence on gathering on your own
A holistic appreciation of the importance of foraging and how it can connect us to our surroundings
Foraged goodies to take home

Booking Options

Eating WildDay delegate rate

£105.00

Interested in spreading the cost of this course? Select Clearpay at checkout.

Not seeing Clearpay? Email info@hawkwoodcollege.co.uk for your payment options.

Eating Wild Tutors

Jos Fletcher

More about Eating Wild

You will discover traditional and indigenous methods of preparation, in addition to modern discoveries and approaches, with identification, folklore, medicinal uses and poisonous plants and fungi discussed along the way. Hawkwood offers a plethora of plants and fungi in an area easy enough to cover in a day. These will then be prepared around a fire in the outdoor classroom.

The Day:
The morning will be spent walking through the grounds of Hawkwood; a wonderful opportunity in itself as this controlled, yet wild area, involves many micro-climates giving the opportunity to discover a much bigger variety of plants and fungi than is normally possible in a day. In addition, we have the landowners permission to forage more intensively! We will also be able to explore the kitchen garden, giving another opportunity to learn about wild plants that are not normally found in the Cotswolds. The possibility of learning about such a variety of flora and fungi in a day is quite uncommon!

The afternoon will be spent with more identification and learning processing, including preserving techniques from all around the world. Familiar ingredients will be shown in a new light and you will become confident with unfamiliar ones.

We will make wild teas, salads, ferments (alcohol, vinegars, kombucha), tonics, boozy infusions, preserves, all according to the time of year and what we find. Lunch and refreshments will be supplied by Hawkwood with contributions from ourselves of what we have made during the course.

All of this will happen around the firepit in Hawkwood’s beautiful outdoor classroom with the aim to fully envelop you in what you’ve learnt by being surrounded in the wilderness. There will be a course each month throughout the summer, giving you an opportunity to see how the seasons and plants develop and how one plant can offer many different bounties: shoots, buds, pollen, seeds, roots, depending on what season it is.

Practical Information

As the course will be held outside and involve walking, please wear suitable outdoor clothing. You may also wish to bring a notebook and pen. Arrival and registration from 9.00 am. The course begins at 9.30 am and ends with afternoon tea at 4.00 pm.

The price includes a delicious two-course lunch, and refreshments.

Registration from 9.00am-9:30am. Please arrive promptly to go through safety talk. This course will be held in the outdoor classroom.

"Jos was amazing, we checked out so many plants my head was spinning. It was also great to taste some of the foraged food."

Previous Participant

About Hawkwood

Hawkwood is a stunning Grade Il listed 19th Century country house, surrounded by 42 acres of sustainably managed woodland, farmland, and gardens. Set in the heart of the Cotswolds - an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - it is a sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. With a diverse selection of nearly 150 courses, there's plenty to choose from, including courses in transformative leadership, future thinking, inner life, music and the arts.

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