Welcome to our Family Foraging Adventure at Cowdray Estate, an enchanting journey specially crafted for junior explorers and inquisitive minds of all ages!
These family-friendly foraging walks are not just walks; they’re engaging scavenger hunts designed to deepen your family’s connection with nature through exploration and fun.
As you wander the picturesque Countryside of Cowdray Estate, your family will embark on a quest to discover and forage specific wild foods. Led by our ever-knowledgeable Estate forager George, you’ll unravel the incredible stories hidden in the heart of our wild countryside. Peel back the layers of history, learn the uses, and explore the science behind a captivating array of plants and fungi.
Foraging is a magical skill that touches upon various disciplines such as botany, nutrition, history, geology, entomology, mycology, ecology, and ethnobotany. This interaction provides a fantastic and expansive way to inspire participants to see our wild spaces in a new light. It cultivates a curiosity and compassion, encouraging families to explore and appreciate the wonders nature has to offer.
George will guide you through different habitats, unveiling the secrets of incredible species found in each as you get hands on in this very tactile experience of nature. This scavenger hunt walk will take 2.5 hours and will start and finish at Cowdray Farm Shop overflow carpark.
Please note that children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Please wear suitable footwear and clothing to suit the adventure, which may include muddy puddles!
Click here to find out more about Foraging at Cowdray. George will vary walk locations around the Estate to give you the best walk which encapsulates the season. Please see the reminder email sent out before the event to get the exact start location to your walk.
Meet George, Cowdray’s Forager:
George has been foraging and using wild foods for some years, supplying the freshest foraged wild edibles to some of the country’s top restaurants, chefs and food establishments.
After years of being immersed in the ‘wild’ himself, George now focuses on encouraging others to appreciate the significance of our native countryside, and how we can enjoy and protect it for future generations.
Over his years of foraging George has accrued an in-depth knowledge of our countryside, its diverse habitats and the variety of plants and fungi each contains. He has covered the length and breadth of the country from the Scottish Highlands to the moors and coasts of Cornwall, in search of new native edibles as well as sustainable sources to pick them. Working closely with chefs consulting on what, when and how to use each ingredient to best showcase them has led George to be featured on programmes like BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, following the journey from the forests and fields to fork. George now hopes to inspire you on your own adventure of discovery.