Swanky RetreatsBeyond the Beach

We met in the hotel lounge, eyed up the clouds, and concluded that if it rained we’d just get wet. Emanuelle led me down the garden steps to a large clump of plants growing beneath a tree. It was but a stone’s throw from the hotel’s front door. I could already see and smell the wild garlic, pretty with its delicate white flowers. There were dock leaves, too. I recognised these from childhood: they usually grow in the same place as stinging nettles, and it’s an old wives’ tale that rubbing dock on a sting will take the itch away. Emanuelle plucked from the ground three leaves, one wild garlic, one dock, and one I wasn’t familiar with which she called Lords and Ladies. The latter, apparently, is poisonous, but you can tell it apart from the other two by its pattern of veins, one of which runs around the perimeter of the leaf. This was Emanuelle’s simple but effective introduction to safety. The UK has relatively few plants which can kill you, but there are plenty which would make you sick, especially if you ate them raw. The first thing every forager must learn, therefore, is to accurately ID those species which are edible. If in doubt, leave it behind.

From the garden we walked out through Burleigh Court’s gate and down the lane. We stopped to look at the hedgerows, in people’s front gardens, and in the village churchyard. Every plant had a story. There were plenty that I recognised, such as cow parsley and wild strawberries, which were just starting to drop their petals and fruit, ready to be eaten in a few weeks’ time. I eyed up a patch of nettles with scepticism, childhood memories of being stung head to toe still painfully sharp in my mind. But Emanuelle was adamant that nettle leaves can be eaten raw, as well as being made into a tasty tea or soup. She showed me how to pick them without being stung. Folding the leaf lengthways, with the stings on the inside, brushing it between your fingers and then rolling it will break the stings and render it harmless. You can then pop it straight into your mouth. At the same time, Emanuelle also gently corrected my misidentification of what is always assumed was a non-stinging nettle. The leaves on the two plants might look alike, but the stingless one with white flowers is in fact a type of mint, not a nettle at all.