PRESS RELEASE - AUTUMN PICNICS

InternetOutdoors.com is launching its Autumn programme of Food Foraging, Bushcrafting, Wilderness Cooking and Feasting, in the Gower Wilderness, South Wales for adults and children 8+. You are invited to join them on Saturday 07 October 06, Sunday 14 October and any day(s) during the half-term break of 20 - 27 October 06.

Cost = £60 per person per day.

Surf, Sail, Climb, Fly or Walk along the coastal path, while you are here too.

InternetOutdoors.com is based on the Gower and organises exciting and green outdoor activities, events and parties for adults and children, 52 weeks a year. It organises TEN different bushcraft days/experiences. Guests either camp in tee-pees or stay in the Winston Hotel, a family run, three star hotel at the gateway to the Gower peninsula for as little as £35 per night per person.

Learn about foraging, preparing, and cooking food using traditional bushcraft methods. Imagine yourself; identifying edible mushrooms, herbs, berries and plants in a food foraging frenzy, catching seasonal fish, learning about animal droppings, tracks and habitats, building shelters, lighting fires without matches, cooking a three course wilderness feast over wood fires, listening to story telling around the camp fire and then snoozing in hammocks slung between trees in the wood.........

Come into the forest with a basket and enjoy the mushroom, wild herb and blackberry harvest with us", says Tricia Hodge, the Director of InternetOutdoors.Com. "Gathering berries together as a family is an unforgettable experience. We will be preparing a delicious three course feast in the great outdoors, using the food we forage and delicious locally grown food, including salt marsh lamb on a spit and unleven bread. All our food will be cooked over wood fires and an experienced bushcraft chef will be on hand to give us advice and assistance.

The best varieties of mushrooms are to be found growing in woodland. Learn about the risks and dangers of eating a deadly fungus and avoid anything that has gills e.g. death Cap, magpie ink cap and fly agaric. It's obviously very important to make sure you know what you are picking before eating anything. Look for fungi with a mushroom shape but with pores instead of gill - that is, an underside that looks like a sponge. These fungi, often referred to as "boletes" are especially tasty. Always cook wild fungi before consumption. Tasty fungi are; beefsteak fungus (found on oak and looks like liver), Chicken-of-the-wood (bright yellow and grows on yew) and brain fungus (grows below Scots pine)."

Jane Clarke, a leading nutritionist believes mushrooms "may have the potential to help fight cancer and heart disease". In her new report "Mushrooms - the new Superfood" she outlines how mushrooms are a good source of B vitamins and essential minerals potassium, selenium, copper and phosphorus, as well as being low in calories, fat and sodium. They are also low in calories and free if you know where to look for them.

As Ray Mears says in his wonderful book "Outdoor Survival Handbook", "Cooking should be fun, not a chore, so be adventurous. Never hit the trail without having made some preparations for meal times, even if only as simple as slipping some chilli sauce and a couple of bouillon cubes into your rucksack.

As the nights draw in, camp fires are becoming an important source of comfort once again. Appreciate their warmth as you cook wild chestnuts, eat and sip warm drinks, laugh and enjoy the last of the year's fair weather.

This is a good time to be out of doors. Drink in the clean autumnal air, watch children chasing falling leaves and kicking up mounds of the leaf carpet.

For our ancestors, autumn was a time of gathering and preparation. Outdoor feast were once a seasonal event for extended families and tribes. Lasting several days or more, they were an opportunity to celebrate long-standing friendships, to gossip and to trade stores, ideas and craft goods."

"Bushcrafting can be a life changing experience that will open your eyes to the wonders of the natural world in a unique way. Every step on this journey of discovery will be a step towards becoming at home in the wilderness on the Gower, South Wales and if it all gets too much you can read a book somewhere or snooze in one of our tee-pees. And no you don't have to eat worms," says Andrew Price, InternetOutdoors' head instructor.

Andrew was born in 1974 and since then he has spent every spare moment in the pursuit of Adventure. He has travelled extensively all over the world to study the traditional skills of indigenous people. He is an experienced practitioner of a wide range of outdoor pursuits. He is passionate about film making and the dramatic arts, graduating in 1997 with a Degree in Media and Theatre studies. This background in performance arts lends an infectious energy to his teaching.

The last Wilderness Course which InternetOutdoors.com organised for 16 children aged 8-14 in Aug 06 was very successful. They learnt about bushcraft, survival skills, sustainable living and played wild games in the woods etc. Luke Waller, aged 9 thought it was the best thing he had ever done and everyone survived two days without their I-pods, computers, TVs etc. Although the girls were keen to get home to watch Hollyoaks when it rained!

At the end of this Food Foraging, Bushcrafting, Wilderness Cooking and Feasting experience, it is hoped that more people will eat in the outdoors this Autumn. Picnics are not just for summer!

For more information or images please contact Patricia Hodge, or telephone: 07970 059869.

12 September 06