Growing your own mushrooms is fun, easy, and requires very little space. Join local mushroom grower and forager Nick Phillips, who cultivates stunning, bouquet-like punnets of fungi near Bridport. In this hands-on course, he’ll share his secrets on how to grow edible mushrooms at home, including shiitake, lion’s mane, oyster, king oyster, and shimeji.
You’ll learn how to establish an indoor mushroom growing kit and how to impregnate a log for outdoor cultivation. This inaugural course also features Rachel de Thample, a lifelong mushroom enthusiast who has successfully grown mushrooms in coffee grounds at home. She’ll guide you through delicious fungi recipes that you can enjoy during the course, while also sharing valuable insights into the health benefits of mushrooms and tips to enhance their nutritional value.
By the end of this one-day course, you’ll have the confidence to grow your own mushrooms naturally and cook them too!
10:00 - 15:00
You will meet your hosts and start the day with tea, coffee and a taster of Rachel’s mushroom granola.
Nick will introduce you to various types of mushrooms you can grow at home, even without a garden. You'll enjoy tastings of different mushrooms, and Rachel will share creative cooking ideas to maximise their health benefits.
Dive into preparing a delicious Mushroom Ramen Soup for lunch, featuring both foraged and cultivated mushrooms.
Tuck into your delicious lunch, and if you like, take the opportunity to explore the farm.
Nick will demonstrate how to inoculate logs with mushroom spores, teaching you about the best types of trees and wood to use, which mushrooms can be grown this way, and how to maintain them.
Rachel will lead you into the enchanting realm of medicinal mushrooms, sharing insights on how to utilise them for both health benefits and flavour. You'll sample Nick’s mushroom tea and prepare Rachel’s delicious chocolate chaga halva.
You’ll have time for a final tasting and to ask any questions about caring for your mushroom kits before heading home at 3 PM.
This course is run from River Cottage HQ on the Dorset/Devon borders. Full address details of HQ will be provided once you have booked.
We are a licensed venue. We have a wide selection of the finest organic wines available to purchase.
If you would like to stay at the heart of River Cottage, we offer overnight accommodation at River Cottage HQ in our beautiful 17th century farmhouse. We have three stylishly refurbished bedrooms for B&B plus the 2-bedroom Gardener's Cottage. These get booked quickly so for more information go to rivercottage.net/stay to book. Alternatively, we have put together a list of our local accommodation which includes B&Bs, self-catering, hotels and camping.
We would advise that this course is only really suitable for 12 years of age and upwards. Under 16s must be accompanied by a paying adult. We put these guidelines in place for the safety, comfort and enjoyment of all our guests.
Sorry, we’re afraid this course is not suitable for those who have an intolerance or allergy to mushrooms.