Grow wild in the country

IT’S RAINING, ‘pull-over-it’s-too-dangerous-to-drive’ rain. Hardly ideal conditions for roaming the forest and hills around Kinnitty Castle Hotel, Co Offaly, foraging for mushrooms.

Furthermore, I’ve been coughing to an Olympic standard for the past week and reckon a drenching could see me out of this world altogether. Could we not just buy a bag of mushrooms at the next Centra?

Mycophagist ‘Big’ Bill O’Dea, of Mushroom Stuff, has been running increasingly popular mushroom hunts in Ireland and abroad since 1998. Today, he is taking us foraging around Kinnitty’s extensive grounds but, first, a luncheon lecture.