Foraging with Wild Food UK Bitts Park, Cumbria 14th March.

Bitts Park offers us a rich urban foraging destination and due to its size, habitat diversity and riverside location, it is surprisingly full of edible and medicinal plants and a good few mushrooms too. An interesting and historic venue, Bitts Park was the very first public park to be established in Carlisle over 200 years ago.

Located next to the River Eden, it is flanked on one side by the Hadrian’s Wall National Trail and on the other by Carlisle Castle, with history dating back nearly 2000 years! Being only 800 meters away from Carlisle city centre, the park is easily accessible and within reach of the Lake District, Northumbria and Southern Scotland.

Our Foraging Courses begin with a short introduction to Wild Food UK, what to expect from your day and a brief summary of the general countryside codes, including our Foraging Code.

Heading off at a leisurely pace around the grounds, your instructor will teach you how to safely identify the different species of edible and poisonous plants and mushrooms that you discover. This exploration will take about 2.5hrs, during which we’ll take a break for a homemade refreshment, such as our warming Hogweed & Wild Garlic Soup or Elderflower Champagne!

After the walk we will end the day with a tasty wild food meal. This will include a selection of foraged homemade treats created by your instructor, and a dish made with what we have collected during the walk.

Our food is seasonal, so what you are served depends on what is growing at that time of year. In Spring we will be making use of the fresh wild greens and in Autumn, the array of tasty wild mushrooms that the area has to offer.

You will receive a comprehensive set of Wild Food UK ‘Course Notes’ a few days after your course. This email will contain links and articles relating to the plants and mushrooms we discovered or discussed during the day.

Host or Publisher www.wildfooduk.com