Record numbers of visitors to Cumbria’s Skelwith Fold Caravan Park enjoyed foraging for wild food at the end of last season – making it the park’s most popular pastime. Park owner Henry Wild said that the season had produced a bumper crop of holidaymakers thanks to a fast-growing interest in foraging in the park’s 130-acre grounds. As well as edible fungi, he said, guests also gathered blackberries, elderberries and sloes to take back home for turning into jelly, wine and gin. Guests roaming the grounds for free pickings were given the thumbs-up for their activities by the park – but with a few words of caution from Henry: “We asked people not to gather more than they can make use of themselves, and not to strip plants or decimate areas entirely as many of our wildlife residents feed on fungi and berries. “We also suggest that visitors learn to tell the difference between similar looking edible and deadly varieties of mushroom, and never to send children out alone to forage,” he added.