“foraging helps you appreciate the seasonality of nature”

‘I don’t think anyone remembers the day they learnt what an oak tree looked like – it’s just there, in your mind, like the smell of bluebells in the woods from when you were a kid. The 1970s were more innocent times. There wasn’t as much traffic, people were more trusting and as kids, we always played out. We’d scrat around in the mud for blackberries and not care about the maggots that might be inside, or the spiders that were protecting them.

‘My grandad was a keen forager – he would take us on walks and teach us about the different kinds of nuts, seeds and berries. He taught us to watch for wood pigeons in the garden. If their poo was purple, it meant the berries they’d been feasting on were ripe. There was also this spot where grandad would take us to show us lurid bolete mushrooms. He’d run his nail over the top of one and it would turn the electric blue shade of Lady Di’s eyeliner as it oxidised.

The survival instinct

‘Grandad came from Poland, where they had traditions of pickling and preserving for winter. But his knowledge became essential during the Second World War. After helping some poor souls escape from trains headed towards an extermination camp, he was arrested. But he escaped and hid in the woodlands, surviving by hunting and foraging. After the war, he found work in Yorkshire, where he met my nana.

‘When I was younger, I didn’t realise the skills my grandad taught us were so special – and I certainly never thought I’d become a professional forager. I tried several careers – from engineer in the Royal Navy to destination researcher for a cruise company, but a high-powered job in London wasn’t for me. After a stint in Cornwall, I moved back to Yorkshire, where I worked as a teaching assistant and continued to forage.

‘Then, one day, after posting pictures of some giant puffball mushrooms I’d found, somebody got in touch to ask if he could buy them. He also asked for 250kg of wild garlic, so my husband and I foraged it and he bought everything. From there, I started supplying a few restaurants and my business grew. Now, I forage for top chefs, like Mark Birchall, Lisa Allen and Tom Aikens.

‘Like all jobs, foraging can get tiring, but wh