Marlborough summer school

July 26, 2023

Patti suggested I join her at this. We chose State of Emergency which was simulated COBRA meetings - each one a different crisis from floods to terrorist attacks. we were assigned different departments - I was at times foreign office, defence and Chief Whip (least successful as had no idea what to do) and Transport, then we had to come forward with immediate responses. Depending on the competence of the person sitting as the PM the meetings went well. Our advisor and tutor was Dr Max Stafford.

At lunchtime I caught up with the cricket and the final score was a 2/2 draw with Australia retiring the Ashes. The hero of the series was Stuart Broad who hit a 6 with his last ball of his test career and took the last wicket. With that he retires.

In the afternoons I did Foraging as I wanted to do something outside. Not too much walking but a lot of standing so took a little stool from the second day. We had an excellent tutor Fred Gillan - see his website thewildsideoflife.co.uk who is into herbal medicines, eating from the land but also told all about the evolution behind what we were seeing. We learnt a lot about fungi and local plants and what we can do with them. Which are good to eat and which to avoid. So I should make meadowsweet cordial for sure and elderberry vinegar. We found Fairy Ring Champignons which we picked on Hungerford Park. He snipped off the caps, fried them in olive oil and with leaves of yarrow and a mushroom chutney on chestnut biscuits made canapés.

Collecting

Preparing and cooking

Yarrow

The canapés.

Then we went to Savernake Forest to find the bracket fungi on the old beech trees and small other fungi.

Just one of the wonderful old trees in Savernake Arboretum.

We also learned all the things you can do with common hogweed and how to identify water hemlock which is deadly - surprised really that it had not been removed.