Ordinary Hopes

Life has plenty of battles for disabled people but, every so often, somebody gets everything totally right and I love to share those moments.

A few months back I saw a family foraging walk advertised and really wanted to try it, but I really wasn’t sure about wheelchair accessibility or if my son would even cope with strangers being too close to him.

Years of experience leads me to expect phrases like ” it will be difficult” and “not sure we can” but Matt from Cornish Wild Food was immediately keen to make sure Adam had the best experience possible.

Matt made it clear that we could join any group he was running, but also offered the option of a session just for Adam and a few friends on a route which he would make sure was totally wheelchair accessible.

We discussed a location together and Matt planned a route. He sent me photos of some of the areas he usually used so that I could let him know what was suitable for Adam’s chair. We don’t have much experience of exploring natural areas so we needed Matt to do most of the thinking here.

But as soon as he mentioned the possibility of cooking on the beach I knew that Adam was going to love it – he is a pretty typical boy who loves sticks, fires and food!

So we headed to Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth, Cornwall.

 

 

 

 

 

I had already spoken to Matt to let him know that Adam found it hard to look at people when they talked to him and that he can sometimes appear to be making quite an effort to not look but that he is still listening and taking everything in.

I needn’t have worried!

Matt understood, there was no pressure, and within a short while Adam was chatting to him as though they were old friends!

We learned about (and tasted) many edible plants, learned which to avoid, and discussed the potential dangers of foraging in different areas.

I won’t go into detail on these things as you should really book your own session with Cornish Wild Food – you will be amazed at how many edible things we walk past every day!

And then came the cooking!

Adam was fascinated to learn that you could cook on a beach! He was also a huge fan of the “safety circle” and put himself in charge of making sure nobody else got too close to it!

When Matt first put together the idea of making a day of it, my thoughts (obviously) immediately went to how we could go to Falmouth and stay all day.

Falmouth Town Council ignored my correspondence earlier this year when I wrote to ask them to install a Changing Places toilet so that all people can enjoy a day in Falmouth town or on its beautiful beaches. I will be writing to them again because we would like to repeat this experience, but, whilst I love the team at Mobiloo and am glad that we were able to hire them for the day, I would rather not have to save up a couple of hundred pounds just so that we can have a day out in Falmouth! To the best of my knowledge, other people expect toilets at the seaside and consider the beach to be the perfect cheap day out!

Do check out Cornish Wild Food and “like” their Facebook page so that you can find out about future opportunities to learn more about foraging.

And if you have the chance to go along to one of their events, take it! You will learn a lot, taste some great things and have a lot of fun in the process.

“Cornish Wild Food specialises in wild food education and wild cooking. We offer foraging lessons around Cornwall, mainly on the beautiful Cornish coast. Also keep an eye out for Cornish Wild Food pop up feast nights in the local area.

Even if you have never picked wild food before we will soon have you confident in identifying and harvesting hedgerow treats. You can choose a gentle foraging walk with the whole family or an adventure followed by a wild feast. We can adapt to offer a bespoke event to fit around you, and can cater for all dietary needs.”

They certainly do exactly what they say on their website! 🙂

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Just to add, I don’t do paid reviews –  I just share our experiences, and great ones like this really should be shared.