Experience: Flavour Fred + Lydhurst.

I’ve got to know Lydhurst well over the past few years, as the estate grows I’ve been there to capture it but also just enjoy it’s beauty taking a walk with owners Amber & Adrian or just with Monty. But my growing familiarly with the estate didn’t take away from the experience of my first sweeping drive down towards the farmstead where I would meet George aka Flavour Fred, along with a group of heavily layered folk in walking boots ready to forage from the woodlands and hedgerows.

This isn’t my first experience with George, my first was with Wild Folk in Bristol and this was the second I had attended, with camera, at Lydhurst. But my first winter foraging experience ever, apart from a very wet day in Ashdown Forest a few weeks earlier where a friend and I visited spots she had seen mushrooms in abundance a few weeks prior. The rain had forced them back underground except for some Birch Polypore that I eagerly messaged George about and took home to make chai with.

I’ve recently become very interested in mushrooms. Back in 2020 I was given some Lions Mane by a photography client and found myself to be sharper, cheerier and with a noticeable difference in my short term memory. So, I was excited to hear the mushrooms were all out late this year.

But first, back to that driveway. Turning off a country lane and clattering over a cattle grid, you descend into a valley through a vast field, usually home to a number of sheep. The stone driveway finally drops you off at the Farmstead - a collection of cottages and converted barns that make up the newly offered retreat space on the estate.

We met between these buildings, some having driven there and others arriving on the dedicated Lydhurst shuttle bus from Haywards Heath station. George, who had been on the estate all morning prepping the food, got the vibe started with an introduction and a building of anticipation for what we might find along our way.

Passing the shepherds huts, a freshly made fire (on which the food would be cooking on) and a rushing mini waterfall we made our way along a narrow path where we were all soon huddled around George while he explained about his first find.

The further we got around the lake, the sharper everyone’s eyes became, zoning into nature and what lies among it. This is the pull of foraging for many: the need to really focus in on things that would just have been walked past unnoticed. So for the next few hours folk from all walks of life were seen on their knees scrabbling around in the leaf matter on the woodland floor.

After a pit stop for cocktails at the fire (alcoholic and non), made from Georges own incredible fermentations, it was time to turn to the hedgerows to learn about what lies for edible and medicinal uses. George is a fountain of knowledge, sharing it wholeheartedly and openly.

Back at the fire George busied himself cooking an array of delights over the fire, serving up drinks and laying out a spread of foraged food with his trademark Eastern influence. The sun set while folks shared, ate, drank, huddled round the fire and laughter bounced around the valley.

Apart from what George brings to the table, what’s special about these foraging walks is the estate is private so there is much untouched laying in the woodlands. But also, Lydhurst has a magic to it that can’t be explained: a mystical magic that leaves you feeling like you have stepped into a timeless world where you can be anyone.

Find details of future events here.