There’s a wonderful berry you can find in abundance in the hedges at campsites, along coastal paths and further in land. It’s from the Blackthorn bush, which landowners and farmers use to keep cattle stock in their fields helped by the strong thorns it has along its branches.

The best thing about it being so commonly used is that we can pick free berries to flavour gin and vodka, make wine, give jelly its own uniqueness and add to cakes, juice and fruit salads. On a warm September day while camping we took the opportunity to forage sloes. They are a gorgeous deep purple and look like small grapes, and sitting amongst the green leaves they are very easy to spot once you know what you’re looking for.

We managed to pick 4 lb’s of fruit on a coastal walk from our campsite and had a great day in the sun by the sea as an added bonus. We got the kids hunting for pirates at the same time then ended up in the pub on the way home for a glass of something nice and cold. It was a great end-of-summer day, and that and the drinks we made from the foraged sloes managed to get us through the winter very nicely indeed.

I’ve always ignored sloes as the only recipe I had was for sloe gin, and following a very unfortunate incident at a young age I can’t stand the smell of gin anymore. However, I decided to try sloe vodka and after we tasted the results of the first batch there was no turning back.

It should be left for at least 3 to 6 months to mature, but we had a tasting at 1 month and the results were still brilliant. It’s a deep pink fruit vodka liqueur, which is sour, sweet and refreshing. If you leave it to mature for a while after putting it in a nice bottle it makes a great gift for Christmas and birthdays too. You can also make wine by boiling the berries, squeezing out the juice and sieving through muslin, then using it in the normal way with wine yeast to make a very unique bottle of plonk. Overall the berries are surprisingly versatile and definitely shouldn’t be overlooked when found in the hedgerows.

However, our chosen tipple is Sloe Vodka, which we call ‘Sloe Down’… for obvious reasons! To ensure you keep the maximum flavour and colour from the berries while making it there are some key things you should do.

Sloe Down

Always make sure the sloes are frozen before you use them. This helps to break down their thick skins so the colour and flavour of the berry is able to flood out. Many traditional foragers say you shouldn’t pick them from the trees until there’s been the first frosts, but I find if you leave it this long the berries are often shrivelled or the bushes have been over-picked by birds and other foragers. In my opinion the deep freeze does just as well a lot earlier, ideally in September. Happily this also avoids the need to prick each berry with a fork to let the juice out, which is a very laborious and traditional task.

1. Half fill a sterilised bottle with frozen berries.
2. Cover with 125g sugar. Add more sugar if you like thick liqueurs or have a very sweet tooth and less if you don’t.
3. Leave the berries and sugar in a warm place for 5 days mixing occasionally.
4. Top the bottle up with vodka leaving a tiny gap at the top.
5. Always store in a dark place or the drink will lose its colour and some flavour as it is sensitive to light.
6. Mix every day by turning the bottle a few times.
7. The finished drink should be dark pink and ready within 3 months, but definitely drinkable after 1 month.
8. Simply enjoy with ice for a delicious taste of late summer x

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Inspired Camping

Picture Credits: Roy

Words By: Sarah 

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.

Thom Hunt, one of the Three Hungry Boys, has recently opened his own business Seventh Rise in Cornwall offering a mixture of courses giving expertise about fishing, hunting, foraging and wild food cooking. It’s based at The Lost Cottage HQ on the banks of the River Fal. We caught up with Thom to ask him about his new business and to get some top fishing tips for beginners you can try out the next time you go camping.

Tell us your inspiration for 7th Rise and how it got its name.

I’ve always had a fantastic connection with the outdoors and after 2 series of ’3 Hungry Boys’ on Channel 4 and writing a book I felt it was time to start a company to offer my expertise and great experiences to others. The name 7th Rise comes from trying to describe the feeling I get when waking at 6am to go fishing on the Sunday, the 7th day. Sunday has always been fishing day for me, a sort of religion I guess!

What will you be offering for beginners and the more experienced fisherman or woman?

The courses will be a mixture of all my outdoor expertise and passions; fishing, hunting, foraging and wild food cooking. It can be tailored to both men and women of all age ranges. I just want people to come and enjoy the Great British countryside! It can be everything from tying knots and learning the best tide times, through to digging your own bait and all day deep-sea fishing trips.

You will also be offering tips and techniques for hunting, foraging and cooking with wild foods. Will participants actually be out there doing it or is it more of a classroom based course?

We have some many great areas at the Lost Cottage HQ and there’s a wide range of things to do on a day or weekend course. We have demo areas where everyone can get hands on learning to prepare and deal with whole fish, rabbits or pigeons, etc. We have 3 separate outside cooking stations covering BBQ, underground ovens and small spit roasts. We have a ‘Hammock Village’ in the woods for people to relax and enjoy books and peace and quite between daily activities, and a target range to have air gun shooting competitions.

What will be so unique about a visit to 7th Rise?

7th Rise is different for a number of reasons. Firstly the location is second to none. If you know of another historical stone Cottage hidden in 14 acres of ancient Oak woodland with its own private creek and only accessed by River, please let me know! It is truly isolated and tranquil. The second most unusual thing is what I ask of people when they come. Nobody is seen as simply a ‘visitor’ buying an experience for the weekend. These people ARE the experience and I want each one of them to be the history of the place. I therefore ask everyone to bring something unique to leave there. It can be as small as they like. We have a huge cork board wall in the lounge where people have left photo’s, poems, international bank notes, local football team badges, old fishing lures…. you name it!

All mobile phones are placed in a bag when you step off the boat and returned at the end. We aim to provide not only great courses and enjoyment, but three things rarely found in the modern world. Space, time, and silence.

What’s the history of the lost Stone Cottage?

The Cottage was originally a location that made charcoal from the surrounding Oak woodlands. The bark from these trees went upriver to a local tannery and they would also burn limestone to create quicklime, used as a building mortar. However, in the last 10 years it has only been used a handful of times by a small local company offering adventure courses to school kids.

What’s your recommendation for the best campsite forage?

Know your stuff! Get familiar with what I call the ‘easy’ foraging plants, i.e. plants that are both easy to identify, have little chance of being mistaken for anything dangerous and taste great too! In this list are things like sea beet, elderflowers, wild garlic, poppy, fat hen, blackberries, hawthorn, nettles, sloes, damsons, wild fennel and sweet chestnut to name a few. The ‘easy’ list is quite long really!

What’s your top five tips or equipment for beginners fishing?

1. Always go to a tackle shop to get your first bits of equipment because it comes with free local advice that you can’t get from the Internet as easily;
2. Use good quality bait as it makes a huge difference;
3. Don’t buy cheap hooks! They are the only bit that connects you to your hard-earned dinner!
4. Be safe, especially sea fishing. Make sure you check tides and the weather as sea storms can roll in very quickly and leave you caught outstretched;
5. If you see other anglers catching fish, go and ask politely why they’re being successful. Just one little tip can turn your day from being a blank into catching a fish to remember forever.

Top Fishing Tips For Beginners From Thom Hunt

The best advice for any beginner is to have patience. Maybe this is easier said than done but it takes more than minutes to catch a fish. It generally takes hours and sometimes doesn’t happen at all!

While you’re waiting for your first bite try to get to know your location. Listen to the activity around you and pay attention to: birds diving in the water; splashes in the water; frogs; and splashes on top of the water, all which mean you may need to use surface plugs or flies.  These are subtle clues to help you get closer to the fish. Engage your mind and senses to really note where the fish are and what they are feeding on. Also pay attention to weather and environmental conditions and record the tide, moon phase, time and sky conditions when you catch fish as these all have an impact on your success.

Always be prepared and make sure you have everything you need with you. Key items are your box of tackle and bait, sun cream, your lunch, a first aid pack, and the right clothes for every eventuality. After about an hour decide if it might be better to move to a different spot, but remember that playing with your line or moving around generates noise and this can scare off fish.

When you’re a beginner at anything the key to success is to pay attention to the experts. Watch the local fishermen, study what they do, what kit they’re using and where they’re catching the fish. They won’t share their precious locations with you but you can head in their general direction and know for next time when they might not be around.

It’s also a good idea to know something about the type of fish you might be likely to get in the spot you’re fishing. All species behave independently and like to hang out in different places. Look for rips or strong currents in saltwater, as this is where bass like to be. Also look for working birds if you are seeking mackerel, a sandy bottom for flounder and rocks for wrasse.  In fresh water they like to ambush their prey so watch near overhanging branches tall grass and anything else that can be used by them as a hide out. Trout like both slow and fast running water therefore looking out for eddies, rocks and debris is key for this fish. Pike also prefer running water but can ambush their prey like Bass, so they can be found in cover as well. So always make sure you understand the habits of the fish you are pursuing and ask the locals for any tips to help you out.

Enjoy your fishing trip. The more you enjoy it the more likely you’ll stay and have a good catch. Invest in a strong but lightweight fishing chair if you are serious about catching fish and not getting damp or uncomfortable. Relax but don’t forget to pay attention to everything around you. Nature is always busy and there are always fishing clues around if you keep your eyes and ears open.

Ask experts about the right bait to use for a species of fish, and if you can, ask local fishermen too. You may want to use live bait over artificial, but the most important thing is to use or mimic whatever the fish are feeding on at that time, which does change. You should also alternate different coloured bait as the type a species will go for can vary from day-to-day.

If you follow these simple tips there’s a good chance you will land a great catch the next time you go camping. However, following these tips of what NOT to do will also lead to success in the future.

Never Litter Or Pollute

Littering reduces the chances for the next generation of fish, therefore reducing your chances of catching fish in the future.  Hooks, cases, old lures and fishing lines are common along shores of ponds, lakes and beaches. Fishing lines are especially bad for the ecosystem as fish and birds get tangled in them. So if you see any litter, even if it’s not yours, you should try to safely move it to a litter bin to help nature on its way.

Also be extra careful about what chemicals you introduce to any watercourse.  Be especially careful of gas or oil from machinery, toilet chemicals and other camping facilities.

Be Respectfully Quiet

Fishing is a quiet and peaceful hobby that creates a sense of tranquility for everyone both observing and doing the fishing. Besides, being noisy drastically reduces the chances of catching anything as sound travels easily on top of and under the water.

Use Good Catch And Release Techniques

Always wet your hands before handling fish as it helps to preserve their protective covering, and make sure you have nothing else on your hands but water. Use barbless hooks as this helps to limit the time fish have to stay out of the water and is easier on their sensitive mouths.  Always remember that anything you can do to ensure the survival of one fish may help to produce hundreds of offspring for the next fishing season.

Don’t Take More Than You Can Eat

Only kill the fish you, your friends and family intend to eat. Also remember that smaller species of fish matter just as much as larger ones as they are food for higher up the food chain.

Happy fishing and of course… happy camping!

Thom can be contacted via the Seventh Rise website, Facebook and Twitter.

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Inspired Camping

Picture Credits: Inspired Camping & Thom Hunt

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The Elder is one of our favourite wild shrubs as it has loads of flavoursome flowers and berries to give us free wild food, cordial and booze by the bucket load. It also flowers when summer has arrived, signalling the start of many hot and happy camping days ahead, and is the shrub that first got us interested in foraging and brewing.

The flower has a unique and pungent perfume which flavours everything you make, but it also develops fruit in the autumn which can be made into sauces, jams and jellies. It’s a very versatile plant, considered by many to be a weed, and once you start using it you begin to spot it everywhere you go.

If bought from the shops Elderflower Cordial is very expensive, however with a small investment in a lot of sugar it can be made, bottled and used throughout the year. It can also be made into a very refreshing wild flower Champagne (sparkling wine), or if you are feeling a bit fruity yourself, you can pour a bit of cordial with a splash of vodka over a handful of ice. Yum!

So here’s our favourite tried and tested recipes for you to try, and as the season has already started you’d better get moving if you want to get the best flowers. Just remember to pick them on a warm sunny day to get the best flavour, away from pollutants and with the permission of the land owner.

Elderflower Cordial

• 20 unwashed de-bugged flower heads
• 1 oz citric acid (from any chemist) or 2 tbs cider vinegar
• 2 lemons – juice and rind
• 1 Lb brown sugar
• 1 Lb white sugar
• 1 Litre boiling water

Pour boiling water over all the ingredients, leave for a few days to infuse, strain and pour into sterilised bottle. It’s as simple as that!

The flowers are easy to spot from a distance

Elderflower Champagne

• 20 unwashed de-bugged flower heads
• 2 sliced lemons
• 4.5 Litres boiled but warm water
• 1.5 Lbs caster sugar
• 0.5 oz citric acid (from any chemist) or 2 tbs cider vinegar

The only tricky bit about this recipe is finding the right bottles to store it in. We’re not joking when we say the pressure from the gas released from the yeast can cause explosions that can cover the entire room in Elderflower Champagne. It has happened to us and it does make a very sticky mess! Your best bet is to use plastic screw top bottles which expand slightly, and if you leave the lid slightly loose for the first 1 or 2 weeks the excess gas can escape safely. The alternative is champagne bottles, corks and wire, but this is much more expensive than recycling old plastic ones. Ordinary wine bottles may explode or the corks pop out with quite literally a fountain of highly pressurised Champagne to follow.

Put the flower heads, lemon and sugar in a fermentation bucket and pour on the water. Leave to soak for 24 – 36 hours and strain through a cloth or fine sieve. Add the citric acid and stir until dissolved. Make sure the fermentation process has started with the natural yeasts by checking for gas bubbles. If it hasn’t you will need to add some champagne yeast. Bottle and store for 3 weeks before drinking chilled. It doesn’t keep much longer than 3 months, but take our word for it, there’s no way it will last that long!

Elderflower Fritters

To try something a bit different you can make Elderflower fritters which make a perfect summer desert. Just make a simple pancake batter, dip the unwashed de-bugged flower head in it and deep fry until golden brown. Either serve with icing sugar and mint or Maple Syrup to make a gorgeous campsite treat.

Inspired Camping

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.

Dandelion wine is one of our favourite wines to make and definitely one of the best for the campsite, hedgerow or field forage. Mainly because it tastes so good but also because a good dandelion picking day has to be warm and sunny and it’s usually accompanied with a bottle of last years wine and a bunch of friends.

We have our favourite picking spots where we arrive with a picnic, go for a walk and just before returning to the camper van we collect bucket loads of dandelion heads. That part is the best part as the next bit turns your fingers yellow and smells quite bitter, but with the remains of the bottle of wine it never actually seems too bad.

Firstly, before you embark on any type of homebrewing you must be sure you have the right equipment and it’s all clean and sterilised. Secondly, you must always make sure you’ve foraged far away from any kind of pollution or sprays, and with landowner permission. It’s also best to pick on warm sunny days as the natural sugars and yeast (and therefore strength of flavour) will be best at this time.

Dandelions seem to have two blooms in the Spring and late summer. The flower is particularly prevalent after a lot of rain, so in the UK we will be seeing many of them over the next week so you better get foraging.

What you will need:

Put the yellow petals, orange peel, lemon peel and water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the water into another container and add the sugar. Stir until it dissolves and add the tea, orange and lemon juice. When its cool add the yeast and cover it well. Stir daily for 3-5 days. Siphon into demijohns and seal with an airlock and leave for about 2-3 months. It’s ready to drink within 7 months but will taste even better if left much longer.

We cracked open our year old dandelion wine only the other night and it had a taste that resembled whisky as I’d added a few extra raisins in the brewing process, making it very drinkable indeed! It’s even possible to make dandelion beer from the roots of young plants in the Spring, just like the popular coffee and tea substitute aptly named ‘Dandelion Root’. Remember it is also an edible wild plant so food foragers will be happy to hear they can use young leaves in salad and cook the older leaves similar to spinach, or add them to soups and sauces.

Dandelion can stimulate the metabolism and cleanse the blood. It’s a natural diuretic so it is said it can help to treat acne, liver, stomach, gout and rheumatism conditions. Its value lies in its active agents, which can also cause its bitter taste. Namely tannins, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, organic acids essential oils and much more.

So when you’re next at your camping site, take a look around you and see if you can spot enough dandelions to add a bit of zing to your salad, or brew up a couple of demijohns of wine or a flagon of beer. One thing’s for sure… if you do you’ll never look at another dandelion ‘weed’ in the same way again.

Inspired Camping

Picture credit: 23 Feet

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.

We’re very excited to announce that soon we’ll be interviewing Martin Dorey, BBC Presenter of One Man And His Camper Van and Author of  The Camper Van Cookbook: Life on 4 Wheels, Cooking on 2 Rings about his new book The Camper Van Coast: Cooking, Eating, Living the Life.

Not only is he a thoroughly nice guy but his first book, published by Saltyard Books, is one of our camping essentials and we can’t wait to see what he’s got in store for us. If his first one is anything to go by then it’s definitely going to be packed with delicious ideas and camping tips to inspire any camper.

The Camper Van Cookbook: Life on 4 Wheels, Cooking on 2 Rings is full of mouth watering recipes by Martin and Sarah Randell, previously the Food Director of Sainsbury’s Magazine, that have been designed specifically for small camping spaces. Helpfully it also gives some great tips for packing light, essential kit lists, store cupboard staples, seasonings and spices and cooking methods. It even has great advice on making your own hammock, foraging your own food from the wild and how to make the best of your time with family and friends.

It’s stuffed full with gorgeous pictures of  camper vans and has a brief history of the VW, including Martin’s own van at the time called Pootle.  Martin also gives his opinion on hiring a VW camper and how you can give your van a little bit of love and what you need to take with you to help you fix a few common faults.

This camping essential is also brilliant at helping kids deal with the most boring part of camping – the journey – by suggesting travelling games and ways of finding a good halfway house. Then when you get to your destination there’s plenty of advice on how to successfully pitch your tent and maybe getting an ‘Exploding Egg Banjo’ on the go for anyone who’s hungry.

So for any one who loves camper vans, camping, food and dreaming of the next getaway, this book is definitely for you.

Quesadilas

Cheese Bread

Cheesecake Cups

So to wet your appetite even more we’re going to dip into Martin’s book to talk about foraging for mussels, a sustainable free food which has the added bonus of being utterly delicious. The book gives loads of great advice if you’re thinking of foraging for this shellfish, and these are the highlights.

Try to forage mussels when there is an ‘R’ in the month. This may sound like an old wives’ tale but it’s to do with the spawning time for a lot of seafood, so follow this rule if you want to gather the rewards in the autumn.

The largest shellfish will be found towards low water so the best time to pick them is on the low spring tide. Remember the foraging rule: to take only what you need.

The next job is to sort the mussels and remove the beards – hairy fibres that it uses to cling onto the rock. Then put them in clean fresh water with a dash of vinegar to get them to spit out any dirt or grit. Make sure you discard any that are floating, broken or open.

Now it’s time to cook them. Mussels create a surprising amount of liquid when they’re cooked so make sure you only add a small amount of liquid to the pan before steaming. However, you can also cook them over a beach fire – making sure they’ll open away from the dirt so the ash and sand doesn’t find its way in. Martin also says you should never try to eat mussels that haven’t opened during cooking and you should put your empty, rinsed shells back on the beach when you’re finished so they can complete their journey and one day become sand.

We highly recommend Martin’s book The Camper Van Cookbook: Life on 4 Wheels, Cooking on 2 Rings and can’t wait to tell you about his new release The Camper Van Coast: Cooking, Eating, Living the Life. So make sure you don’t miss out on this and the freebies Martin’s giving away, by adding your email to the free updates and bonuses box.

Update: The competition has already started. Visit our article about The Camper Van Coast to find out more.

Visit the site today for loads more free camping tips and tricks. Inspired Camping.