wild food school distance learning

[Man of Tanith]

Hi All
Has anyone took this course
http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/wfs/distance.htm ?
Its run by this company- http://www.wildfoodschool.co.uk/
Having just finished my nvq 3 in health and social care i feel the need to continue learning but a subject that i am actually interested in!
i think but i might be wrong that Marcus is a member here?
can anyone recommend this course? it looks good and very informative and reasonably priced.
sorely tempted but would like to hear others opinions before i commit myself
Cheers
Sam

 

[Shewie]

Any idea of the price Sam ? I could be interested in that myself

 

[Man of Tanith]

says on first link roughly £100
one of reasons its very tempting
Sam

 

[Kerne]

Very tempted too - what's the BCUK discount?

 

[durulz]

Wild food distance learning?
Isn't that called A Book? And MUCH cheaper too.
Some things can easily be done on a distance-learning course, but some things need to done out in the field.
Identifying wild foods is one of those things.
I can't help but think a distance learning course can teach you only so much. And probably no more than a decent book on the subject - what different species' look like. Problem with that, like all field guides, is that you become proficient at identifying the picture in the book. But nature is more varied than that, and things out in the countryside have considerably more variety.
Hence, you need a 'hands-on' tutor.
Be interesting to see what those who have done the courses have to say, however.

 

[Tony]

Marcus that runs the school is very knowledgeable, it's his specialist area and he's devoted to it. I expect that the course content is good and people will get a lot out of it, although I've not seen it.

He's a nice bloke so don't hesitate to contact him and ask him any questions about it.

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Yes, Marcus is on the forum, though only pops in occasionally to check out the food and foraging thread as he's busy writing a book atm.

What Tony says - he's very knowledgeable. I went on a week's course with him earlier this year.

Hi ID of edible plants is top-notch and on the food side he's brilliant. More like "cuisine". So lots of great ideas for ways to make things taste fantastic in the field (though Marcus doesn't generally cook over wood fires himself, he can suggest flavours that go together and ways to pep things up a little), lots of history about food (and some limited medicinal) uses for different wild plants. Thoroughly recommend.

We covered about 100 different edible plants available in the local area in July during the week I was there!

 

[spamel]

I liked marcus, he comes across as very approachable, knowledgeable and an all round good guy! I attended a workshop at last years' Moot with him instructing on the things available locally at Merthy Mawr. Good fun!

 

[Man of Tanith]

duruluz the main reason i was thinking of a distance learning course is i struggle with self teaching from a book and hope that if i were to do this course i might have more structure to the learning, allowing me to actually learn rather than look at the book and be baffled
Cheers
Sam