‘MY CHRISTMAS HAMPERS ARE PRACTICALLY FREE’
Imogen Tinkler, 40, lives in Whitstable with her husband Duncan and two daughters, Xanthe, five, and Athene, one. Watching my little girl skip through hedgerows, I was struck with the vivid memory of myself doing the same thing at five years old. Inspired by her childhood in rural Ireland, my mum and I would walk hand in hand, plucking holly to make our very own Christmas wreaths. Mum taught me all about the great outdoors, and when I moved to London in 2005, I fell back in love with foraging.
Hunting through bushes in my local park, I found all sorts of fabulous edible plants. Japanese rosehips, cherry blossom and wisteria were everywhere, and I learned how to turn them into oils or infused gins.
Eventually, my husband Duncan and I moved to Whitstable in 2017 and now, along with our two children Xanthe and Athene, we trawl the bushes and shrubs for edible plants all year round.
Family gathering
Xanthe loves exploring with us. We hunt for gorse in winter, an edible yellow flower, and in March, wild garlic makes an appearance. Cherry blossoms and elderflowers follow in spring and by autumn we’re on the lookout for rosehips, hawthorn and quince. We gather everything with one goal in mind: putting together our annual Christmas hampers, filled with treats that we’ve foraged throughout the year.
Famous among family and friends, the hampers include rosehip syrup, wild garlic vinegar and elderflower champagne, and everything is labelled with the location where its ingredients were found. We try to include something new each year too. This year it’s blackberry cordial and hedgerow ketchup. That is, if my little ones don’t eat all the ketchup first!