News and Events

Foraging Walks - Summer 2025

Wild Food and Wild Medicine Walk

Friday 13th June 6.30pm (approx. 2 hours)

Foraging for food and medicine offers a wealth of opportunities to connect with the wild side of nature. As part of the Wild Roots Nature Fest, join this guided foraging walk around the green spaces between Lancaster Castle and the Quay, exploring both cultivated and self-seeded wild plants to discover edible and medicinal treasures growing here.

You will learn how to identify plants, about their wild food and wild medicine properties and how best to prepare them. We will also sample some wild teas.

To book for this walk, please follow this link www.wildlifewalk.co.uk/events/

Free but there is a suggested donation of £10.00 to help fund the festival.

NB.
We will walk whatever the weather, so come prepared with a waterproof if it looks like rain.
This walk includes areas of uneven and potentially muddy ground, so sturdy footwear is recommended.
We will walk for up to 2 hours and for no more than 2 miles at a gentle pace.
Please feel free to bring a flask of hot water so we can prepare some wild teas as we go.
You may wish to bring some water to stay hydrated.
A notepad and pen may help you if you like to take notes.

Wild Roots Nature Fest, 13–15th June, is a full weekend of nature-based walks and activities across Lancaster's green spaces curated by Ros Jones from Wildlife Wellbeing Walks CIC – the online festival brochure is available here - Activities at Wild Roots - Wildlife Wellbeing Walks CIC

Wild Food and Wild Medicine Urban Foraging Walk

Tuesday 1st July 6.30pm (approx. 2 hours)

For those who cannot make the 13th June, I will be repeating that Wild Food and Wild Medicine Walk on 1st July.

We will explore the urban green space surrounding Lancaster Castle and down into Quay Meadow in search of edible and medicinal plants.

You will learn to identify plants, find out what they offer us in terms of food, medicine and more, including historical and current usages.
We will also sample some wild teas.

Suitable for beginners or those with some foraging knowledge, there's always more to learn.
£12.50 pp. There are a limited number of spaces.
To Book – https://www.trybooking.com/uk/EYOV

NB.
We will walk whatever the weather, so come prepared with a waterproof if it looks like rain.
This walk includes areas of uneven and potentially muddy ground, so sturdy footwear is recommended.
We will walk for up to 2 hours and for no more than 2 miles at a gentle pace.
Please feel free to bring a flask of hot water so we can prepare some wild teas as we go.
You may wish to bring some water to stay hydrated.
A notepad and pen may help you if you like to take notes.

Immersive Foraging Walk

Sunday 6th July 1pm (approx. 4 hours)

A longer “slow” foraging walk along the River Lune estuary for a smaller group

After the usual frenetic energy in the build-up to mid-summer, I will be offering a "slow" foraging walk. Ok, we might not walk that slowly but this is an immersive experience in the natural world combined with a deep dive into foraging.

This walk is ideal for those who want to slow down and savour the connection with nature that foraging brings.

It won't matter whether you are a novice, or you've attended my walks before, you will learn something new, from plant identification to how to prepare plants and their culinary and medicinal uses, maybe a bit of folklore too.

We will be heading down the River Lune, with time meandering along the hedgerows and on the estuary to meet some salt-marsh greens.
We will also sample some wild teas.

The walk runs from 1pm for about 4 hours.
The route will be up to 8 miles and is over uneven and possibly muddy terrain.

This is a small group event for a maximum 10 people. Don't miss out!
£30.00 pp, with an earlybird discount available until June 14th.
To Book – https://www.trybooking.com/uk/EYPW

NB.
We will walk whatever the weather, so come prepared with a waterproof if it looks like rain or a sun hat for a hot day.
This walk will include areas of uneven and potentially muddy ground, so sturdy footwear is essential.
We will walk for up to 4 hours and for no more than 8 miles at a gentle pace.
Please feel free to bring a flask of hot water so we can prepare some wild teas as we go.
You may wish to bring some water to stay hydrated, and a snack to keep you going.
A notepad and pen may help you if you like to take notes.

Watch out for more walks as well as some seasonal workshops, details coming soon...

Thrive Magazine

Julia contributes regular articles on foraging and plant medicine to Thrive magazine, published by Food Futures.

You can read download digital copies of the magazines here –
Thrive North Lancashire Magazine - FoodFutures

Podcast: Rethinking Food – the Backyard Garden

As part of the Lancaster Health Festival (Sept 2020), the late Jennifer Lauruol, an inspirational garden designer, and I took part in a podcast with Royal Lancaster Infirmary chaplain, Ian Dewar.

This podcast explores simple ways of incorporating plants in your life to maintain and improve health on many levels. It includes Jennifer discussing edible hedges and Julia sharing information about the health-giving properties of some easily-identifiable garden weeds.

It was a pleasure to share this platform with Jennifer. Her garden design practice was firmly rooted in permaculture, and she and I swapped ideas on plants and health for many years.

A link to the podcast is here

And you can find it here with other podcasts from the festival https://www.thelancasterhealthfestival.org.uk/podcasts/

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