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Growing up in the Arizona desert, foraging wasn’t something I had much exposure to. My early life was spent in vast landscapes littered with saguaro cactuses, coyotes and deep red sunsets.
While beautiful, the lush green landscape that characterises the UK had a strong pull on me, prompting me to leave the arid southern state for the rain and grey skies of England. When I was given the opportunity for a closer, guided look at the English countryside and learn how to forage, I was among the first in line to sign up.
My overnight adventure began by catching a train from London, followed by a 10-15 minute taxi journey to reach the Hunt Gather Cook location in the Ashdown Forest, tucked away within the South Downs, where I arrived alongside the other campers just in time for dinner and drinks. Hunter Gather Cook has set up courses like this one as a way for people to experience food in the outdoors – their aim is to equip people with skills to become “modern-day hunter-gatherers”.
The venue, where we would stay for one night before hiking, feels at one with the outdoors. The shed doors were fully open, exposing us to the vast scenery, but indoors there was a fire crackling, tables already laid with candles and blankets at each guest’s seat. In an instant I felt at home. As I took a closer look around, I noticed that the space was made up as two-thirds dining tables and the rest kitchen, teeming with chefs preparing the meal that we would all contribute to (and feast on) later that evening.
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The guests were offered glasses of wine as we got to work sharpening sticks for our much-anticipated s’mores and nailing trout to wood planks to be cooked on the fire. We followed this up by toasting a delicious first course of oysters and chilli lemongrass vinaigrette. While we patiently waited for the trout to cook, I took the opportunity to mingle and explore the property – with rows of garden beds packed with flourishing produce along with open space made up of a firepit, benches and a grass area. Just outside the stone walls is open country as far as the eye can see. For a moment I got lost in its beauty as I took a deep breath in.
Upon our return to the shed, we were presented with planked fish on sourdough flatbreads, complete with wild garlic pesto, pickled hogweed and dandelion petals for garnish. Next, we devoured a sticky venison shoulder cooked with cumin-spice rub, baked onions, dates and pickled lemon, a burnt roasted aubergine salsa and nettle pesto cake with pickled blackberry. The next course came out: juniper-smoked venison, ash-baked carrot and braised chard with potato stacks and wild garlic aioli, accompanied with a spiced jus – delicious.
As we drank and ate, it was inspiring and fascinating to listen to strangers sharing stories of their own adventures and experiences of connecting with the outdoors. Our meal came to an end with the “HG Mess”: a charcoal and rosemary meringue, chantilly cream infused with Botanist gin and fig leaf, topped with wild berries.
Then, in classic camping tradition, someone broke out a guitar, prompting the entire room to sing along to campfire classics like Sweet Home Alabama and American Pie before we melted s’mores on the fire and later went to our tents to sleep under the stars in anticipation of the following day’s adventure.
Luckily, for those who aren’t fully made for the sudden shift to wild living, there are outdoor toilets and sinks (and, although I didn’t see for myself, rumour has it there are showers). There isn’t a heater, which means the water does run cold, but this adds to the “back to nature” feeling as I washed my face and got ready for bed.
I woke early the next morning to the smell of bacon frying on the open fire, which was used for all cooking during our experience. Sipping my cup of coffee and eating an egg and bacon bap, I used this time to simply enjoy the crisp, clean morning air and feeling of calm that enveloped me.
Next, we foraged. One of the Hunter Gather Cook team was our guide and he led us from our campsite to our final destination: the highly anticipated Foragers Arms.
From the get-go, we learnt that we were already surrounded by edible plants, the first being ground ivy. Our guide picked some leaves and passed them around for us to investigate. Touching, smelling and feeling the leaves gave us a greater appreciation of this plant while we were educated on how it can be prepared and cooked, and what characteristics to look out for. We all plucked some of the herbs for our communal foraging basket before heading further up the trail and on to the next plant.
We continued on our way, collecting and learning about hop shoots – the young, tender shoots of hop vines – Jack-by-the-hedge (or garlic mustard), cow parsley and common hogweed until we found ourselves at the top of the hill where The Foragers Arms awaits – the UK’s most remote pop-up gastropub. I opted for a rhubarb cider as we got to work on cooking the final stages of our meal. The herbs we picked are incorporated into almost all of the dishes, including the flatbreads that we quickly prepared, threw on the fire and got straight to eating.
Being outside in nature, in the company of strangers, creates an experience unlike anything else I’ve participated in before. It combines the fun of camping trips with family while being treated to quality food and ingredients. My time foraging and camping in the great outdoors felt like a new definition of fulfilment: connecting with nature and others, learning something new and simply being.
How to do it
The Foragers Arms is part of a series of hiking experiences by the Columbia Hike Society.
To book your foraging experience in the South Downs, go to huntergathercook.com
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