Explore and discover the delicious wild plants that grow all over the city, free and ripe for picking.
Guided by expert foragers, explore London's diverse edible plant life over a 3-hour walk, learning about historical uses, herbal medicine, ethical foraging practices, and culinary uses with wild ingredients found in the city's parks and green spaces.
WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT?
Greater London has a microclimate. There is an enormous and diverse range of edible and medicinal plants on our doorstep. As well as the wild indigenous plants, there are a whole range of edibles introduced by Victorian park planners, modern councils and even domestic gardeners.
This walk covers a lot of bases. Learn about the edible and historical use of plants and mushrooms (when in season). Get to grips with herbal medicine - aspirin was originally derived from the willow tree and of course there’s cookery. You will learn the ‘all things in moderation’ rule. This is both to preserve you and nature. It’s not about pulling anything and everything that looks green up by the roots.
Your Expert Guides:
John Rensten is the founder of Forage London, author of "The Edible City: A Year of Wild Food," and co-founder of The Association of Foragers. After living and foraging in London for 20 years, he moved to Dorset in 2016 to focus on mushroom hunting and coastal foraging, but still runs urban foraging events and wild food walks through his network of expert Foragers. His passion for wild food began while running a gastro pub, where he incorporated foraged ingredients like wild mushrooms, plants, and seaweeds into the menu.
Join them exploring Hampstead, Burgess Park or Peckham Rye Park. Locations are variable according to the seasons. The walk lasts 3 hours and the maximum in each group is 16. This walk is always popular so get in quick.
There is nothing more satisfying than learning how to walk on the wild side.
LOCATION: North, East and South London.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- A gift for 2 people
- Duration: 3 hours
- Events run on selected Saturdays - at least once a month
- Maximum group size is 16 people
- Learn the ins and outs of foraging from a professional
HOW TO BOOK
Contact information for booking a place on this experience will be provided on your voucher.
