Rivington mushroom forage and wild gin!

Rivington Terraced Gardens is a special place in Lancashire. Created to be the home of the great industrialist Lord Leverhulme, it lay abandoned for many years. Now it is having as makeover and some of the gardens are being restored to their original design and the garden itself is worth a visit, featured with myself on Gardeners World for its rich diversity of mushroom species.

The format of the day is simple. Meet and greet and wild foraged gin sampling to wet your appetite for wild edible treats, go for a mushroom hunt and finish with a fry up to taste our foraged finds. The plan is to take enough knowledge from the course to be able to confidently identify a few mushroom species on your own. I cannot say what species it will be, we will see what the forest is offering to us on the day.

The equipment you need is the same as going for a walk. Boots, waterproofs and some warm clothes. Your own foraging knife and basket for your mushrooms is a bonus, though this will be provided on the day. You will also be provided with a foraging staff that has a double purpose this year as a social distancing staff!

The terrain is and pace is easy going and the distance isn't great, but mushroom foragers do tend to stray off the path so expect to cross streams and scramble up bankings now and then. We will be out for around 4 hours, maybe longer.

LUNCH WILL NOT BE PROVIDED - please bring your own lunch, you'll need to keep your energy levels up.

Lets go foraging :D