West Sussex, Crawley, Tilgate Park Spring Foraging Courses

This large West Sussex park’s mixture of broad-leaved woodland, heathland and lakes, make it the perfect place for a diverse range of wild foods to flourish all year round. There is a large mix of interesting trees such as 7 national champion trees and 10 different species of oak; including an Old English Oak, believed to be around 250 years old!  Located just off the A23 on the outskirts of Crawley, Tilgate Park can be easily reached from East Grinstead, Horsham, Reigate, Brighton, Croydon and even Guildford.

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.

Please note that all parking at Tilgate Park is restricted to a maximum height of 2.1 metres. If your vehicle is taller you may find parking in the residential area along Titmus Drive a short walk from the meeting point.

Smith and Western
Tilgate Drive
Crawley
West Sussex
RH10 5PQ

On the grass outside the Smith and Western.

Please note that all parking at Tilgate Park is restricted to a maximum height of 2.1 metres. If your vehicle is taller you may find parking in the residential area along Titmus Drive a short walk from the meeting point.

There are buses from Crawley Bus Station, on route 2. This terminates at the main car park on weekends only. On weekdays, it terminates at K2 and the best access is walking from the stop at Tilgate shops which is around a ten minute walk away from the park.