On me and Mart’s walk at Collidge Lake Nature Reserve, Tring, we found that holy grail of spring foraging, Wild Garlic! (Allium ursinum)…

This is a great and really garlicky-tasting spring edible. Look for it under deciduous woodlands before the tree leaves come out. Pick the leaves and roll around a small piece of soft cheese. Magic!

Have to admit, I didn’t pick any as I didn’t want the park wardens to shout at me!

There’s another patch near Gullivers Land IN MK. Near the canal.

Collidge Lake is a great place for kids, too – there’s a quarry history trail with huge rusty machines and a shepherds hut with all ye olde things in it. Plus a sculpture trail and lots of bird hides!

I found Juniper by the lake shore! I tasted a berry just to make sure. Am not actually a great fan of gin, but kind of enjoyed the way the berry tasted. There was a young Spruce with fresh green lemony needles – they would taste good mixed, in one of them ‘arty gins’. Ooh la la.

Really though, there’s only a small amount of juniper and spruce, so I didn’t harvest from here.

A lovely sensory-flavoured walk though!

xx