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Educational experiences for teenagers, led by specialists where they work.

Biology experience·Sheffield

New dates coming · 2 hours · Ages 10 to 18

  • People who know it first-hand

    Every session is run by someone glad to let teenagers into their world.

  • School subjects come alive

    Each experience connects to subjects they study at school, like physics or biology, so they see how things work in real life.

  • Built around teenagers

    Every session is designed for ages 10 to 18. They take part and ask their own questions.

  • You come too

    A parent, or another adult you choose, comes along at a reduced price. One adult can bring more than one teenager.

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About this experience

A two-hour walk through real British woodland with an expert forager. Learn to read the plants, fungi and ecosystems most people walk straight past, and the history and medicine hidden in them.

As featured on BBC Radio Sheffield and in Exposed Sheffield magazine. Heard Joel talking about Secrets of the British Woods on the radio? This is that session.

The British wood is stranger than it looks. Spend two hours in it with an expert forager, and bring home something you found yourself.

To most people a wood is a green backdrop, something you walk through on the way to somewhere else. To a forager it is a working pharmacy, a hardware shop and a library of stories, with a few things mixed in that you really do not want to get wrong. The difference is years of learning to see it, and a good forager can start to pass that on.

What you will do

  1. You meet your forager at the edge of the wood and set off at a gentle pace, stopping often.

  2. You learn to spot the plants, fungi and stranger things most people walk straight past, and hear the story, the history or the use that makes each one stick.

  3. You start to read the wood as a living system: what depends on what, what heals, what is native, and what is quietly taking over.

  4. The poisonous ones are pointed out from a safe distance, named, and left well alone, which is its own kind of knowing.

  5. You leave with something you found and identified yourself, and a way of seeing a wood that stays with you.

What it connects to

  • Biology
  • History
A way into
Plants, fungi, ecosystems, medicine, history and the small things most people walk straight past.
What they take away
A way of reading a wood that stays with you: the plants, the fungi and the stories, and what would heal you or is best left well alone, all by sight.

What this is really

By the end, the wood has changed. It stops being a green blur and becomes a place you can read.

What would feed you, what would heal you, what to leave well alone, all of it by sight. That kind of seeing does not switch off when you leave.

What parents say

  • The real surprise was watching my daughter eat a leaf, picked straight from the plant and checked by the forager first. At home she won't go near anything green. Out there she tried it without a second thought, and was thrilled with herself.
    Parent, Lymm, spring 2026
  • Weeks later she's still naming plants when we're out. She crushed a leaf, smelled it, and told me you can eat the ones that smell of onion. It stuck.
    Parent
  • She came home and told her friends the whole story about the Japanese plant that's a single clone and grows through walls. Months on, it's still one of the things she talks about.
    Parent

Who runs this

Forage Box

Every session is led by a vetted Forage Box forager, a real expert in what grows here. Forage Box is an established foraging network, and many of its foragers are members of the Association of Foragers.

Why this is on Foxchaser: Forage Box helps your teen read a British wood with their own eyes, hands and nose, and holds the safety standards that make a real working wood a safe place to explore.

Meet the specialists

The specialists who will be with your teen on the day. Different specialists cover different locations and dates, so you will know who is leading yours before you go.

  • Gavin Ireland

    Gavin Ireland

    Forager and bushcraft instructor, Association of Foragers

    I came to foraging the long way round: former soldier, hill and moorland walking leader and bushcraft instructor before I ever called myself a forager. These days I run foraging and bushcraft workshops across Wales and the Marches, I am a member of the Association of Foragers, and I have a few foraging books and online courses to my name.

    Wild food, wild drink and wild medicine are what I love most, and sharing them is the whole point. I look forward to seeing you out there.

  • Pete McCusker

    Pete McCusker

    Forager, Association of Foragers

    I found my love of foraging during lockdown, like a lot of people did, and it stuck. I have worked with Forage Box since 2024, running local foraging sessions across the North West, and I was part of the original Foxchaser pilot. During the week I work for the Environment Agency in flood defence, and I am a member of the Association of Foragers.

    I have ADHD, and foraging gives me a practical, hands-on way to do what I love. I have also run sessions with local Scout groups, and I look forward to meeting some of you out there.

  • Joel Young

    Joel Young

    Forager and chef, Association of Foragers

    I grew up in inner-city Nottingham, but my earliest memories are wandering off into woods and hedgerows. Plants and fungi have held my attention for as long as I can remember, with wild food, ethnobotany and the knowledge carried in a landscape becoming the thread through it all.

    I have a background in catering and food, and I have been a member of the Association of Foragers for two years. Foraging brings those worlds together: food, plants, fungi and the stories around them, all in a place you can learn to read for yourself.

    Getting outside mattered hugely to me and my development, and I'm passionate about giving young people the same thing: time away from the computer, in a real wood. If a group leaves with a better understanding of the habitat rather than just a full basket, I've done my job.

How this runs
  • WhenNew dates coming
  • How long2 hours
  • WhereSheffield
  • Ages10 to 18
  • The groupA teen-focused group, adults alongside
  • GroupTeen-focused group. Other teenagers will be part of the session.
  • Adult modelA responsible adult comes with each booking and stays for the session.
  • Guided discoveryAn expert forager leads the whole way, pointing things out and telling the story behind each one, so your teen comes away able to recognise and understand them.
  • Recognition, not handlingPoisonous species are pointed out from a safe distance and named. Never picked, never touched.
  • Take-homeYou leave with something you found and identified yourself, and a way of reading a wood that stays with you.
  • WeatherRuns in normal British weather, so come dressed for it. Only called off for genuine safety, with as much notice as the forecast allows.
Good to know
  • Foraging is allowed: in England and Wales you can pick the four Fs, flowers, fruit, fungi and foliage, for your own use where you have access. Your forager covers the where and the how, including the places that need extra care.
  • Two hours outdoors in real woodland. Expect uneven ground and an easy walking pace.
  • Wear sturdy closed shoes or wellies, long trousers and long sleeves, and bring a waterproof layer.
  • Bring a bottle of water, a small bag or tub for what you take home, and any personal medication.
  • The rule on the day is simple: never munch on a hunch. Nothing is tasted unless the forager has confirmed it first, and tasting is a small, optional part of the session. Tell us about any allergies when you book.
  • The forager brings all the kit for identifying what you find. You do not need anything else.
  • You will have the exact meeting point and directions the moment you book, never later.
If you need to cancel
  • Cancel 7 days or more before the session: a full refund, or a free move to another date of the same experience. Your choice.
  • Cancel less than 7 days but at least 48 hours before: your places move to another date of the same experience. No refund at this point, because the groups are small and a late gap is hard to fill.
  • Cancel less than 48 hours before, or not attend on the day: the places cannot be refunded or moved.
  • If we or the provider cancel the session, for example for unsafe weather or too few bookings: a full refund, or a free move to another date. Always.
Read the full booking terms
How booking works
  1. Choose teen places Book one full-price place for each teenager coming.
  2. Add the adult coming with them A responsible adult stays for the session at a reduced rate.
  3. Bring a friend if you like One adult can bring more than one teen, so a friend can join the same booking.
Read how it works