Chris has been in touch from the Oxford area to let us know about some of the courses he runs in the Oxford area.

The british hedgerows are full of berries and fruits at this time of the year

He hosts guided wild food & medicine forage walks in Oxford and south east England. The courses are designed as an introduction into foraging for wild plants.

With 12 years experience of foraging for foods and medicinal plants, your guide on these walks, Chris Hope BSc(hons) MedHort can offer in-depth analysis of plants either as food or as medicines! On this one course you will learn some of the species which nourish, which ones heal and which ones to leave alone!

All walks are gentle strolls, as we spend most of the two hour walk with the plants.

The walks are deliberately advertised as being on a suggested donations basis. This is to ensure inclusivity. They are currently only £20 per person per walk.

Walks depart from a numebr of locations in and around Oxford. See the website for details of where and when!

When travelling country roads one often comes across signs attached to gateposts or propped against trees proclaiming “fresh fruit and veg” as well as many other delights such as free range eggs and honey.

One such occasion was yesterday, for once a dry and mild Saturday, enabling us to take our dogs Buster and Charlie for a good long run to stretch their rain weary legs.

A day out by the sea was required and on the way we chose to take the back roads which wind past many small farms and villages.

At this time of year the soft fruit is ripening and sure enough, on a fence was a sign saying “blackcurrants and raspberries”.  Turning off the road onto a narrow farm lane overhung by what promised to be quite a crop of apples later in the year, we came to a small courtyard with a table bearing boxes brimming with ripe, juicy fruits.

At only £1.20 for 500g of currants and £0.75p for a box of raspberries, we helped ourselves to the pickings and left the money in the honesty box on the table. I think I got quite a bargain, as most of the large supermarkets charge around £1.00 to £1.79 for 250g of currants.

The next stop yielded some free range eggs, tomatoes, beetroot and some lovely home made lemon curd.

In fact all of the produce you see on the table below was purchased for just slightly under £10.00.

Some of the raspberries, we could not resist eating on the way home, but once home we promptly washed and froze the fruit for later use.