5 Reasons to try Seashore Foraging & Wild Cooking in Pembrokeshire
Find all about our latest Roadschooling Experience as we teamed up with ‘Wild About Pembrokeshire’ and enjoyed a ‘Sea Shore Foraging & Wild Cooking’ experience that our kids absolutely loved!!
Situated close to the pretty city of St Davids (the UK’s smallest city with just under 2,000 residents), you can find the beautiful secluded bay of Caerbwdy (signposted to Trelerw). The perfect opportunity to grasp a family ‘foraging & wild cooking’ experience that echoes American writer Dale Carnegie’s famous quote “Learning is an active process. We learn by doing. Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.”
Learn it ✰ Discover it ✰ Taste it
Everyone loves a new experience don’t they? It makes it feel extra special so imagine the rush of foraging inside rockpools or under the sea… A chance to get up and close and personal with a stretch of Wales’ most gorgeous coastline. Experiencing an incredible sunset all to yourself as you taste some of the freshest hand caught, home made food you could possible imagine!
Whilst the rest of the world rushes about, here in this quiet corner of Wales the pace of life seems somewhat slower… Perhaps it’s the colourful houses that brightened up the trip through Solva (another beautiful estuarial location). But Pembrokeshire just has so much to offer families… from surfing Newgale’s idyllic beach to giant zip wires at Bluestone. With even the hedgerows offering entertainment as we sought to find out more about foraging…
Having never foraged for anything more than seasonal blackberries before our journey began… our European Roadtrip has at times turned into a food journey for our young daughters (learning/tasting and exploring Olive Oil in Croatia, Snail Farms in France or Goulash in Hungary). But the British seaside can be a wonderful source of free food, if you know what you’ re looking for – which is where Wild About Pembrokeshire’s Seashore Foraging comes in….
Look at those happy smiling faces, do you think we enjoyed it!!!
Foraging has become increasingly popular in the UK due to the wide variety of wild ingredients, from garlic and herbs to edible roots and berries. But the chance to join forces with Wild About Pembrokeshire’s foraging experts (Julia & John) started with a fantastic opportunity for some more roadschooling on picnic rugs far from the shore.. It offered a chance to discuss where certain seaweed can be found across the differing parts of the beach/shore and a chance to taste dried/prepared seaweed from Julia’s multitude of jars!!!
want to learn science from a different perspective?
With our British seashores home to over 600 different seaweeds, there’s plenty to choose from… including Bladderwrack, Purple Laver (think Welsh Laver cakes) or our favourite Pepper Dulse. Both girls were enthralled by Julia’s tales of her kitchen and how seaweed can be used medicinally and for culinary purposes. It’s great to see just how interactive this learning process can be with real experts… but nothing beats doing!!! The perfect chance for a Geography & Marine Biology lesson!!
Education for us, is all about the process of learning (as our Top 5 Roadschooling Experiences might suggest…) and we subscribe heavily to the saying ‘Tell me, and I’ll forget, but teach me and I’ll remember…. but best of all involve me and I’ll learn….’ Thankfully, we found kindred spirits in our guides who shared our view and were exceptionally kind and patient throughout. Ensuring both girls could ask as many questions as they wanted or turn over as many stones as they could…
You’re never too old or young to go Foraging. Have you tried it?
As the coastal path bends to the right, you descend down towards Caerbwdy Beach on the promise of more stunning sea views. The gorse moorland on the right shields the view from the road… but it’s one of those hidden gems. A crescent shaped cove, full of weathered pebbles and seaweed…. The perfect place to start the foraging!! But there’s plenty more to interest you in Pembrokeshire, just check some of these out below
Within minutes of our arrival, both girls were soon captivated by the witty duo of Julia & John as they offered an honest, yet highly informative explanation of where to search and what to look for… Soon they were off into the rocks/rockpools, searching high and low for new seashore creatures to be identified by our engaging guide John. From fish to fauna, from seaweed to limpets… nothing seemed to faze them… with some making their way into the foraging bag, whilst others were placed back with care for another day…
Before arriving in Wales, we’d read a great quote saying ‘Foraging and fishing along the seashore is a pleasure, a joy and an education’… and we’d wholeheartedly agree with this… but add in the opportunity to wild cook too…. and you’re starting to ensure the senses play a part in remembering the lessons learnt earlier in the day!! Not to mention it being great family fun and a real experience to remember…
So a freshly caught seafood meal cooked on huge paella plates over the glowing embers from the wild camping fire was always going to satisfy the tastebuds… but little did we realise the breadth of seaweed dishes, bread and humous that would also add to the meal…. making all the preparation (scrubbing, cutting, cleaning) worthwhile
Would we repeat it again? Absolutely…. in a heartbeat! Have our girls learnt things they didn’t know before – Yes, it’s started a series of food/sea related questions that will undoubtedly provide great future roadschooling lessons Is it easy to organise one of these trips? As Julia/John run trips as regularly as each Thursday… it’s pretty easy
To reserve places on a foraging session with Wild About Pembrokeshire call 01437 721035 or via email or perhaps add a climbing session with Climb Pembroke (see how we got on during our Climbing Adventure here)
For details of other things to see and do in Pembrokeshire see www.visitpembrokeshire.com
wild about Pembrokeshire
so where did we park the bus for the night?
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