Wild Food in a Day

Discover the pleasures of wild food and see the abundance of wild herbs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, fungi, flowers and seashore foods to be found close to the Suffolk coast. Our expert guides will take us to a variety of habitats at or close to Henham Park, near Southwold. This is a great introduction to foraging for serious foodies; after our foray we will learn more how to turn our finds into delicious meals and enjoy a gourmet wild food feast at The Anchor, Walberswick.

In the spring we will find abundant, but often overlooked, plants including nettles and dandelions which are great to eat and have outstanding nutritional qualities. In the summer we may be lucky enough to find samphire and sea purslane, while September brings hedgerows burdgeoning with fruit and nuts and October provides fungi.

Our expert guide, Jacky, will lead our small group on a two or three hour walk and talk about the wild edible plants all around, showing us how to identify plants; the perils of picking poisonous plants and potential contamination. Jacky will also enlighten us with some historical and medicinal facts about plants. There'll be plenty of time for your own exploration and questions.

In October Jacky will be joined by Valerie Jordan, co-founder of the Tasty Mushroom Partnership, who will show how to identify, pick and prepare the best mushrooms for the kitchen.

After a morning in the open air, we’ll return to Food Safari's base, The Anchor in Walberswick for a gastronomic four-course wild food feast imaginatively prepared by Sophie Dorber, chef and proprietor of The Anchor. During lunch we'll discuss how to use wild foods in your own kitchen and explore some recipe ideas. Mark Dober, Sophie's husband and the internationally respected beer writer, will present a hand-picked selection of beer and wine to complement each course.

Food Safari’s founders are Polly and Tim Robinson, who share a passion for sourcing, cooking and eating food made from fresh local produce. We have put down roots in the Suffolk countryside after many years in London.

Like many people, we were shopping more and more at farmers' markets to get our hands on fresh, local food and we really enjoyed meeting the producers who are so full of infectious enthusiasm for their produce.

Part of Polly’s family have been farming organically in North Wales since the 1970s, so we both knew there was incredible hard work and dedication behind the finished product. We wanted to find a way to get to meet these food heroes, to hear the unique stories, fascinating insights, and to experience the beautiful landscapes of the Suffolk countryside.

Suffolk is firmly on the food map and its outstanding natural countryside and coastal beauty combined with an abundance of local producers, restaurants, specialist food shops and the acclaimed annual Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival make it a perfect destination for foodie holidays. We hope Food Safari will become a new way to explore Suffolk and get to know the people and landscapes that make it special.