Personalised Berry Picker

Etsy (£24.95)

Save time and mess with this personalised wooden berry picker. Picking singular berries by hand can be extremely time consuming and result in your hands being covered in sticky juices. With this berry picker you can collect your foragable fruits with a few swift movements. 

Made from bench wood, this gift is better for the environment than plastic alternatives (something at the forefront of any foragers mind). Add a name or a short message for that special personalised touch and put a smile on their face.

Foldable mushroom knife and brush

Muldale (£14.99)

This pocket-sized knife is the perfect companion for any avid mushroom forager. Its foldable feature allows for easy and safe storage when out collecting your favourite fungi. The black sheath allows the knife to be hung from a belt or tool bag making for easy access. 

Made from stainless steel with a rosewood handle this gift isn’t just useful but also sustainable and aesthetically pleasing. Equipped with a brush on the bottom end of the handle, perfectly suited for brushing any dirt off your foraged goodies. 

Secateurs and Snips

West Wales Willows (£10.50-£48.00) 

A pairing as iconic as Romeo and Juliet, this set of secateurs and snips are lost without each other, much like a forager is lost without them. Essential for collecting your favourite foragable food, the pair gives you flexibility and practicality. 

Use the secateurs to cut through thick stems and tougher foliage and swap to the snips for precise and delicate cutting. Being made from a carbon steel blade and soft hand grips, providing comfort and durability.

Cotton Tote Bag

Etsy (£2.25+)

Somewhere to store your finds is essential for any forager, this tote bag provides the perfect place for that. Providing free movement and the ability to use both hands for picking and rummaging. 

Easily foldable for your trip out to your chosen foraging patch and strong and durable enough to withstand the wear and tear that nature throws at you.

Trug

Hyggestyle (£24.95)

The first thing you picture when you think of a forager is their trusty companion of woven trug. It’s a foragers best friend, much like a man and his dog. Providing ample space to store all you collect on a day’s foraging; this is the perfect gift for a keen forager. 

This trug is handwoven from natural willow providing that rustic aesthetic whilst still offering a sturdy and durable practical accessory. No foragers collection is complete without one of these, making it a thoughtful and useful gift.

Forage and Nibble by Forage Box

Cost: £35pp

Duration: 3 hours

Location: UK-wide

Perfect for: Foodies

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Forage Box are on a mission to get people away from the supermarket giants and we couldn’t be more on board. If you’re an enviro-hero looking for like-minded foodies, their ‘Forage and Nibble” workshop is a perfect way to clue up on sustainable wild foods while making new friends.

Get ready to learn about fungi, fruit, flowers and foliage, and look forward to plenty of wild nibbles along the way. We also like their options for longer foraging excursions where you can cook and feast your way through the day. Did someone say foraged-ingredient soufflé, ravioli, and sushi?!

Women of the Wild: Three Day Bushcraft Adventure by The Grim Adventure Club

Cost: £235-265pp

Duration: 3 days, 2 nights

Location: Pembrokeshire, Wales

Perfect for: The gals

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Eva Outram’s club got its name to challenge all those who say it’s “Grim up North” and as her Instagram will show you – it’s an easy sell.  Ditching the corporate world for Channel 4’s survival TV show Alone, we love the heart Eva brings to her custom adventures and this is our top pick for anyone looking to upskill on all things bushcraft.

Expect wood carving, wild-cooked meals, tree identification, shelter building, story circles, sleeping under the stars and did we mention the Celtic Feast? We also have a soft spot for this workshop for being women only so if you’re looking for sisterhood on the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast, these weekends are sure to be something special. 

Witchcraft Foraging for Spell Intentions by Urban Forage

Cost: £35pp

Duration: 3.5 hours

Location: Stanmer, Brighton

Perfect for: Spiritual souls

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If you’re more interested in the symbolic and spiritual meanings behind wild plants, then this workshop is your sign to start channeling that energy with others. 

Highlights include a guided walk with master forager Christian Amys, tales of herbal wisdom, healing and magic, nature-based intention jars, foraged teas, and sacred campfires to help you align with others and the power of the Wicca.

London Wild Foods by Fergus the Forager

Cost: £75pp

Duration: 3.5 hours

Location: Hampstead, London

Perfect for: Intermediates

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Fergus Drennan is a giant in the foraging community with 30 years of wild food experience, so if you’re looking for a workshop with a little more technical know-how this could be the group outing you’ve been dreaming of.  

As well as showing you how to identify 20-30 plants and fungi, Fergus shares detailed advice on food preservation techniques including salt pickling, vinegar pickling, lacto-fermenting, cordial making, wine and spirit making, dehydrating, fruit leather creation, seasoning and other ways to keep your foraged food for longer. You can always trust in a good keen crowd at these events but Fergus’s courses book out quickly – you have been warned!

Beginner’s Foraging Walk by Peakforager

Cost: Means dependent (contact over Instagram or email to say hello!)

Duration: 3-4 hours

Location: The Peak District

Perfect for: Beginners

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If the idea of meeting lots of new people is still a little daunting, Andrew Ford’s Peakforager outings might be more your cup of tea. Book a workshop with your own group of friends or enjoy a 1:1 session across the region’s fields, meadows, woodlands and hedgerows. Whatever your choice,  prepare for a jampacked tour of edible plants, flowers, seeds, berries and fungi, and learn how to avoid toxic lookalikes too. 

A great choice for beginners looking for a generous introduction to the wild edibles the uplands have to offer with a focus on foraging sustainably.

Foraging and wildcrafting course by The Little Foragers Kitchen

Cost: £20pp

Duration: 2 hours

Location: Glasgow and Oban

Perfect for: Healers and Historians

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Whether you’re interested in the therapeutic powers of wilderness or want to work on your own mental health, Vicky Manning’s 20+ years of outdoor wellbeing programmes will soon put you to rights. Learn about wild medicine, folklore, rituals and how to heal trauma through compassionate connection to others and the Earth. 

Hear stories about our ancestors and the plants that sustained them, and relax into a smaller, slower setting, perfect for creating lasting connections.

Forage. Gather. Feast. by Maria Finn

WHSmith (£23.91)

If you’re looking to branch out to the US for some tasty picked plant inspiration, look no further than Maria’s an inventive cookbook using her foraged finds. From Alaska to California, she explains all that can be found when out on a hike and the adventurous ways of cooking them. A notable example is her recipe for Black Truffle Pot de Crème with Preserved Sakura Cherry Blossoms – a surefire way to show off your foraged ingredients.

Edible Seashore by John Wright

Waterstones (£18.99)

Foraging legend John Wright has covered all things edible outdoors, this time focusing on the coast. Highlighting all seashore foraging issues from conservation and ethics to food poisoning – this is for the forager with access to the seashore and is looking for a challenge. If you have explored the forests and wooded grasslands this book will help you try your hand at shellfish and seaweed.

If the waves are calling, this is the book for you!

Edible and Medicinal Wild Plants of Britain and Ireland by Robin Harford

Eatweeds Press (£14.99)

Robin Harford covers the medicinal side to foraging in this book. It is slightly shorter, covering 48 different plants that are edible but mainly for medicinal purposes rather than a tasty treat – although that often goes hand in hand. 

He is careful to offer descriptions, pictures and nutritional information of the featured plants and how they can be used for different ailments. It is also a good history book for how these plants were used throughout time. Learn about the healing properties of wild garlic, yarrow and the common nettle. 

The Hedgerow Cookbook by Caro Willson and Ginny Knox

Waterstones (£12.99)

For those that are looking to perfect their foraged recipes, this is a cookbook full of treats that can be found in the great outdoors. Alcoholic drinks, jams, cakes, full main dishes and cordials, you can find it all flicking through each delicious page.

A good upgrade book for those who feel confident identifying certain plants and want to improve their culinary skills in partnership with foraging skills.

Food for Free part of the Collins Gem series

Waterstones (£5.99)

Small and compact enough to be easily carried on long walks in the wilderness, this is the go-to pocket guide for those who are worried about identification of edible plants out in the field. 

As you can tell by the title, this book is focused on foraged finds you will be eating, encouraging newbies to find more food for free around them. It contains over 100 edible and easy-to-identify plants, with full illustrations and descriptions. Recipes are also included to help inspire you if you find something you’ve never cooked with before.

The Forager’s Calendar by John Wright 

Waterstones (£14.99) 

Coming in at number one, a personal favourite at Briar. The Forager’s Calendar is a neatly packaged foraging book that contains month by month guides to get you started. John Wright provides insight each month about what can be found and how to identify, store and cook it all. 

It has full, beautiful illustrations throughout to make identification easier. He also offers tips and tricks on the best kit to buy, how to stay sustainable while snipping your finds and what is best to avoid as a first-timer.

The ultimate book for aspiring foragers looking for a detailed guide year-round – from fried ants to delicious fruits.