Foraging Course, Manchester

Half-Day (£40), Half-Day with Lunch (£55) and Full-Day (£85) foraging courses for beginners and intermediates. The Half-Day with Lunch course includes the entire half-day session, followed by a 2 to 3-course lunch. The Full-Day course includes all that, plus an afternoon session of more learning and walking in nature. Children under 12 come free (within reason, and please let me know in advance), and well-behaved dogs on a lead are more than welcome.

For the half-day courses (and first half of the full-day course), we’ll take a 2.5-hour guided foraging walk (covering 1 to 2 miles), stopping regularly to discuss (and where possible, eat!) the many edible goodies we find along the way, whether that be foliage, flowers, fruits, nuts or mushrooms! What we’ll find depends on the time of year. The route is mostly flat and we go at a slow and steady pace.

The main focus will be foraging for wild food, but we will also touch upon medicinal or “bushcraft” uses if relevant to what we find.

• A brief introduction to myself and foraging in general.
• Finding and discussing around 15 species common across the UK.
• How to identify the species we come across.
• Information about toxic species to avoid.
• Foraging laws and principles to ensure you forage legally, safely and responsibly.
• Trying a couple of pre-prepared wild food-based samples!
• A 2 to 3-course lunch containing many foraged goodies (Half-Day with Lunch and Full-Day courses only).
• A follow-up email to participants with a summary of the species we found and other useful information, such as my recommended books for further reading.

When the half-day course ends, the full-day course continues.

The second half of the full-day course starts with a 2 to 3-course lunch featuring many foraged goodies, and may even include some of what we’ve gathered from the morning!

We can accommodate gluten-free, vegan, and a few other dietary requirements. Please respond to my confirmation email closer to the course date with your specific dietary needs.

After a delicious taste of the wild lunch, the learning and walking continue in the afternoon and includes:

• A practical walk-through of my favourite foraging books and how best to use them.
• Finding and discussing at least 10 further species common across the UK that have food uses.
• Foraging for non-food uses, such as medicinal uses and/or finding natural plant fibres to make your own string or rope!
• Learning about “forest bathing” and the importance of trees from a foraging perspective.
• Going deeper on some of the topics we covered in the morning, including identification skills and toxicity.

Across the full-day course, we will cover 3 to 4 miles. In wet weather, it is important to ensure you have waterproofs. If the rain is particularly heavy during lunch, then a tarp shelter is usually provided.

Foraging is fun and fascinating, with so many benefits! It’s as safe as anything when approached with the right level of caution, awareness, and knowledge. It’s important to realise, however, that foraging can be dangerous IF you approach it with a lack of caution (recklessness), and/or a lack of awareness of the risks and without the respect nature deserves. During the course, I will show you how to approach foraging so you don’t just minimise but eliminate all risks, so you are free to enjoy the many benefits that foraging brings to your life – and there are many!

Humans have been foraging as a way to survive for hundreds of thousands of years. Before farming, this was how we survived – finding what nature provided in harmony with the seasons and the land. This period before farming forms over 95 per cent of our existence as a species, so to our brains and bodies, wild food foraging feels incredibly natural – which is one of the reasons it feels so good!

Foraging is one of the best ways to disconnect from our busy modern lives of emails, social media and technology, and reconnect with nature and our ancestral roots. During our foraging walks, we will log off from the modern world and log in to nature!

We'll meet in the Parsonage Gardens just outside The Didsbury Parsonage Trust building. Please see the “dropped pin” Google Maps location below that will take you to the meeting and starting point:

Dropped pin: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iQHgyWWeUzPwJpgg6?g_st=ic

Off-road parking is sometimes available on Stenner Lane (M20 2RQ), but please allow enough time in case you have to park elsewhere. There are plenty of other places to park, such as Sandhurst Road, but such places may involve a short 5-minute walk to the meeting point.

I will be waiting at our meeting point from at least 9:55 AM.

• Comfortable, weather-appropriate clothing and footwear. The route we take is mainly flat and a mostly even path. However, parts may be muddy or involve walking on wet grass, so please ensure you have appropriate footwear if you want to avoid wet socks!
• Your phone but only for the camera function should you wish to take any photos/videos/notes. I will however send out an email at the end of the course with a list of the species we come across.
• Some water or another hydrating drink if you wish.

The Forager Within, founded by James Hill, runs public and private foraging courses across Yorkshire and Manchester. His love of foraging started on nature walks with his parents, where picking wild food was just a way of life. In adulthood, James hit a low point in 2015, which re-ignited a passion for foraging. By the Spring of 2016, foraging was a hobby, an obsession, and then in 2022, a business with a mission to connect people to nature and improve physical and mental health in the process.

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