Join me for a beautiful 2.5 hour walk through the beautiful, ancient & protected Brede High Wood, East Sussex. This guided 2.5 hour walk to learn about plant & fungi identification, history, folklore, responsibility, soil heath & much more.
This location & session is authorised by the Woodland Trust in order to demonstrate the importance of the site and to teach respectfulness and responsibility to the diverse & complex relationships happening in nature all around us.
Brede means ‘broad’ in Old English and probably describes the lower reaches of the river valley while ‘High’ refers to a ‘hay’ or grassy enclosure, probably a pasture.
Once part of the Weald’s iron smelting industry, Brede High Woods’ historical influence is present throughout the site today. There are saucer-shaped bell pits from iron ore extraction, boundary banks and ditches, sunken lanes and the sites three farms – Brede High Woods holds fascinating evidence of centuries of human activity.As humans, our senses were developed first to assist us in hunting and gathering. Our perception of colour helped us pick the ripest fruit and tell the poisonous from the tastiest berries. The powerful link between smell and memory helped us remember those plants we had eaten safely before, and those we had been taught to fear. Your body hasn’t forgotten this: wild plants still provide a vivid and delicious feast for the senses.
I also provide in-depth follow up with of what we have seen, links to resources online, book recommendations and more. This will allow you to leave with a safe starting point for identifying your own wild ingredients. This is NOT a gathering course but purely identification where many rules exist in public places about foraging. All of these legalities will be explained on the course itself.
I also provide you with some of my techniques of preservation along with tasters of my wild booze infusions.
