What’s it about?
Running for the past 15 years, our 1 day foraging and woodland cookery courses are based on the Kent Downs in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Our foraging and woodland cookery courses are for anyone who’d like to gain an insight into the edible delights of the British hedgerows, fields and woodlands and moreover how to cook with the ingredients that Mother Nature gives us for free.
So if you’re curious about the plants, berries and fruits that grow around you and wonder which you can eat and which you need to avoid, and you’d like to know how to turn those ingredients into delicious and nutritious meals, come and join us!
There’s nothing like strolling through the great British countryside and knowing the names of the trees and plants that you walk past and which ones you can eat! On this foraging course you’ll learn all about the abundant, tasty plants that are there for the picking (and cooking)!.
Foraging has seen a surge in popularity over the last few years and plenty of people have jumped on the bandwagon, running courses with 20 or more participants. We prefer to keep the numbers low and so for this course we only take 8 people at a time to make sure that everyone gets their moneys worth.
What will I do on these foraging courses?
Our foraging courses focus on edible plants, nuts, berries and fruits commonly found in the hedgerow, fields and woodlands. As a heads up, foraging is about as seasonal as it gets, so what we gather will depend on the time of year that you come along, so for instance if you come along in the spring we’ll be looking at all of the new plants that are coming through; come in the late summer and we’ll be turning our focus to include nuts and berries as well.
From the meeting point we’ll first have a quick chat around the legalities of foraging, the kinds of places where you should and shouldn’t forage and what containers you should use to collect your free food.
After that we’ll take an amble along the tranquil lanes of the stunning North Downs Way and look at common plants, hedgerow fruits, berries and nuts that can be eaten; we’ll collect some as we go. We’ll also point out any plants and berries that are poisonous, and how to tell them apart from edible lookalikes so you know what to avoid.
From the hedgerow we’ll move into ancient woodland and look at different plants, again collecting as we go.
When we arrive at our ancient woodland camp the kettle will be ready and you can have a hot drink. Once you’ve eaten your packed lunch we’ll have a refresher on the plants we’ve collected to make sure that you’ve got the main identification points down.
From there we’ll collect some firewood, settle in for the afternoon and start cooking using the wonderful plants that we’ve collected. Everyone gets their own dish to cook and contribute to the banquet. We’ll be cooking over open fires in the woods where the temperature is controlled by adding some more firewood!
On past foraging courses we’ve cooked a wide range of culinary treats including dandelion & hogweed frittata, sweetcorn fritters with ramsons & cow parsley, jack-by-the-hedge pakoras, blackberry ketchup, haw sin sauce, wild patatas bravas, nettle burgers, elder flower delight….
We’ll have our dishes ready at the same time so that we can sit at our woodland dining table and enjoy the results of our foraging day.
More information about our foraging courses
Location: Westwell, Kent
Duration: 1 day
Start: 10am
End: 4pm
Course size: Maximum of 8
Catering: We’ll eat what we forage, but bring a packed lunch as well as it’ll be late afternoon before the foraged food is ready.
What happens next?
Once you’ve made your booking you’ll receive an automated booking confirmation from Ecwid, our e-commerce platform provider.
We’ll send you a comprehensive joining pack 6 to 8 weeks prior to the start of your course.
This includes the location of the meeting point and what to bring.
Please read the joining pack when you receive it as it contains essential information about attending our foraging courses!!
FAQs
If you’re wondering what facilities are available at our bushcraft camp, take a look here.
If you have any questions, take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions page. If you still have a question, feel free to email us at info@jackravenbushcraft.co.uk
Please note that as we work predominantly in the woods, it’s not easy for us to be in contact 24/7. We can be contacted by phone at any time, although during teaching sessions it’s kept on silent. Email is checked as soon as we get back from the woods.
Our blog
There are loads of posts on our blog related to our foraging courses, including wild food recipes and hints & tips on foraging, so feel free to take a look.
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What our customers say about our foraging courses
We also have reviews on our Facebook page and our Google Business page so you can check out those as well.
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Another brilliant day spent on a Jack Raven course. The foraging and woodland cooking course exceeded my expectations. It started with a walk were we were taught how to identify edible plants, told about how to prepare them and their nutritional value. Importantly we were told how to distinguish them from poisonous species. Gary and Nicola have so much knowledge to share and the setting is beautiful. Once we had collected sufficient ingredients, it was back to their woodland camp, an idyllic setting, to cook up a feast over an open fire. The food was delicious and the recipes simple enough to replicate at home.
Had a fantastic day on the foraging course. We were lucky with the weather, which made it even better, and it was great learning about the different plants, what’s edible and what to avoid.
We met some really fantastic people along the way, which added to the experience. Learning how to cook with what we had collected throughout the day was an added bonus and a really enjoyable part of the course.
The base camp was wonderful and a great place to finish the day. All in all, a great day well spent and I’d definitely recommend the course.
Great experience. Learnt so much and got to eat some very tasty food using items we had foraged.
Highly recommend and I’m already looking at my next course.
We had a fantastic day on the foraging course. We were lucky with the weather, which made it even better, and it was great learning about the different plants and understanding what is edible and what needs to be avoided. We also met some fantastic people along the way, which added to the whole experience. Learning how to cook with what we had collected throughout the day was an added bonus and a really enjoyable part of the course. The base camp was wonderful and made a great setting to finish the day. All in all, a great day well spent and something I’d definitely recommend. Adam & Layne
I bought the 1-day foraging pack as a gift for my husband’s birthday and it was so different from our usual! The hosts are extremely nice and the food was great! We had great fun. I’m really glad ChatGPT suggested this gift! (As a plus, it is really close to London)
