Welcome

Hedgerow Harvest offers a range of foraging and wild food courses for the complete beginner or those with some experience of foraging. Whether your interest lies with wild mushrooms, edible plants, fruit and berries or seaweed and shellfish we have a course to match your needs. Our courses cover the identification of edible and poisonous species as well as cookery, safety, the law and sustainable foraging. Most of our full day courses include the preparation (and eating!) of a three course meal based on our finds. We also offer half-day foraging walks and private foraging opportunities. Our scheduled courses are run in Dorset, Wiltshire and HampshireAutumn wild harvest of edible fruit, berries, nuts and herbs - Dorset.Autumn wild harvest of edible fruit, berries, nuts and herbs.
On this web site, you can find out more about private and scheduled foraging courses and walks, purchase foraging course gift vouchers to give as presents, browse our course photo and video gallery and read what others have said about our courses. You can also see what wild food is available at this time of the year and learn about or buy wild British truffles.

Why Forage?

The recent growth of interest in foraging has been part of a movement that has also seen increased popularity in allotments and home-grown produce. For many, these changes are a response to environmental concerns such as food miles and intensive agriculture with wild food being truly sustainable - seasonal, local, organic and free-range! Others, including chefs, see the opportunities that wild food offers - a wealth of nutritious ingredients and a vast range of delicacies to discover - food for free!

Foraging is clearly not a new thing - at one time hunting and gathering was how our ancestors lived, the wild "parents" of familiar garden fruits and vegetables forming part of their diets. In more recent eras, our grandparents or parents will have encountered wartime food shortages and turned to the countryside to supplement their diets. Knowledge of what can be picked and how it can be used is part of our history.		Wild fruit based drinks and sauces - HampshireWild fruit-based drinks and sauces.

Foraging & Wild Food

Foraging is “the act of looking or searching for food or provisions”. Wild food is anything edible that has had no management to increase its production. This can include:
  • Plants - leaves (including herbs and seaweed), flowers, berries, nuts, roots or sap
  • Fungi
  • Animals such as rabbits, pigeons and fish / shellfish (of both fresh and salt water).
Foraging is not about survival, but using wild and “conventional” food ingredients together. 		Wood Blewitts - edible wild mushrooms - DorsetWood Blewitts
edible wild mushrooms

Warning

A few words of warning and rules:
  • Some plants and fungi are poisonous, so if you are not 100% certain that your identification is correct - DO NOT EAT IT.
  • Avoid foraging where agricultural sprays or vehicle pollution may have contaminated produce.
  • Always stay on Rights of Way unless you have the permission from the landowner to leave them.
  • Picking nuts, berries, leaves etc. is permitted on Rights of Way, but the uprooting of any wild plants is illegal without the landowner's permission.
Crab Apple jelly - HampshireCrab Apple jelly

Disclaimer

Before eating any wild food please use expert advice if in any doubt. No liability is accepted for any actions taken or not taken as a result of the information given on this website.