Edinburgh, Penicuik Foraging Courses
The Pentland Hills Regional Park is a breathtakingly beautiful area, covering 10,000 hectares of Scottish countryside. During our courses in the Flotterstone area – near Penicuik, we will traverse meadows, wooded and hillside areas and we usually find a great range of tasty Spring shoots and in the Summer a wide variety of some of the best edible mushrooms around. We’ll also be walking alongside the Glencorse Burn, so expect to see a good deal of waterside plants too.
We will meet at The Flotterstone Inn, which is a lovely welcoming country pub and is less than 10 miles from the centre of Scotland’s capital city.
Our Foraging Courses begin with a short introduction to Wild Food UK, what to expect from your day and a brief summary of the general countryside codes, including our Foraging Code.
Heading off at a leisurely pace, your instructor will teach you how to safely identify the different species of edible and poisonous plants and mushrooms that you discover. This exploration will take about 2.5hrs, during which we’ll take a break for a homemade refreshment, such as our Hogweed & Wild Garlic Soup or Elderflower Champagne!
Then it’s back to the meeting point for a tasty wild food meal. This will include a selection of foraged homemade treats created by your instructor, and a dish made with what we have collected during the walk.
All of our food is seasonal, so what you are served depends on what is growing at that time of year. In Spring we will be making use of the fresh wild greens and in Autumn, the array of tasty wild mushrooms that the area has to offer.
You will receive a comprehensive set of Wild Food UK ‘Course Notes’ a few days after your course. This email will contain links and articles relating to the plants and mushrooms we discovered or discussed during the day.
Please bear in mind this is a walk in the Pentland Hills and our usual route does include a reasonably steep hill.
The Flotterstone Inn is a cosy, family-run pub, providing traditional Scottish hospitality – if you are looking to relax and unwind after our walk in the hills.
NB: The Flotterstone Inn is currently closed for refurbishment but should be re-opening soon. We do not know if the car park will be available but if not, please park in the public car park a little further along the lane.