10 of the UK’s best autumn foraging trips

04.10.2023 - 12:21 / theguardian.com

Fore Adventure runs outdoor activities on and around Studland Bay on the Jurassic coast, offering half-day kayak foraging around Old Harry Rocks (£65), is suitable for vegans and vegetarians, focusing on harvesting wild plants and seaweed. Fishing and foraging (£70) adds fishing for crustaceans and fish such as black bream, sea bass and mackerel; and foraging and feasting (£140) adds a two-course meal. The company also runs two-day wild camping, sea kayaking and coastal foraging adventures (£290).
Next kayak foraging trip 15 October, foreadventure.co.uk

Wild Food UK runs half-day foraging courses all year, educating people about edible plants, mushrooms, fruits, roots and flowers. Many of the walks begin at pubs or glampsites, so participants can make a weekend of it. The Peak District course starts at the Miners Arms in Eyam, a 17th-century pub with rooms; one of the Cumbrian courses starts at the Eden Valley Glamping site near Carlisle; and North Yorkshire’s starts at the Little Seed Field glampsite in Nidderdale. There are homemade refreshments along the way – perhaps hogweed and wild garlic soup and elderflower champagne – followed by a wild food lunch.
£60 adult, £30 child, wildfooduk.com

Wern-y-Cwm, a Grade-II listed farm in 30 acres of wildflower meadows near Abergavenny, recently opened with self-catering properties and yurts. There are guidebooks on foraging and local flora and fauna, and the owner, Laura Tenison, can give guests tips on where to hunt for fruit, mushrooms and nuts. She has partnered with Liz Knight of Forage Fine Foods to offer half- or full-day foraging courses in the Black Mountains. The family foraging morning includes child-friendly activities such as crown-weaving, potion-making and cake-decorating.
A two-night stay at the Cider House with a day’s foraging with Liz Knight costs from £150pp (based on five sharing), wonderfulescapes.co.uk

Hawkstone Park Follies, a 40-hectare park full of 19th-century towers, bridges, caves and gullies, is the spectacular setting for this two- to three-hour night walk. Foragers head out with torches in search of mushrooms – with luck, even finding rare bioluminescent fungi, glowing in the dark. The price includes a mug of wild mushroom soup and homemade bread. Visitors can stay in the refurbished Coppice Cottage, a one-bedroom property with views of the park.
Night fungi hunt, £35, 14 October, foragingforages.com; Coppice Cottage costs £116 a night, airbnb.co.uk

Wild food expert Peter Studzinski is leading a three-hour fungi forage in the New Forest national park in Hampshire. There is a mushroom cooking demonstration and light lunch after the walk, followed by free time to explore Stockbridge, a pretty town nestled in the Test Valley. In the