Kent, Badgells Wood Foraging Courses

We are excited to be back at Badgells Wood in 2024! Situated on top of the Kent Downs in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, you’ll find a private and beautiful woodland, designated as a local wildlife site and brimming over with nature. The owners have worked closely with Kent Wildlife Trust to open up this wonderful place, while enhancing the biodiversity at the same time. 

Remnants of a historic World War II camp from the 1940s can still be seen, and we certainly hope to find a wonderful array of plants and fungi here too.
Badgells Wood is a part of the Birling Estate. It is situated between West Malling and Meopham, within easy reach from London and the South-East.

Our courses begin with a short introduction to Wild Food UK, what to expect from your day and a brief of the general countryside codes, including our Foraging Code.

Heading off at a leisurely pace around the grounds, 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 warming Hogweed & Wild Garlic soup or Elderflower Champagne!

After the walk we will end the day with 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.

If you fancy some back to nature off-grid woodland camping, (as listed in the Times ‘Britain’s Twenty Best Campsites’) and probably the closest woodland campsite to London, you can find out more here:  Badgells Wood 

Badgells Wood Campsite

Whitehorse Road

Meopham

Kent

DA13 0UF

There is plenty of onsite parking available at Badgells Wood Campsite.