In Partnership with Visit Britain
Gartur Stitch FarmIgnore the wailing call of those takeaway discounts, pinging on your phone thrice a week. Instead, wrap up and forage for your pizza ingredients in Scotland, the perfect destination for a microgap.
We’re in chronic lazy season. The aftershocks of Christmas and New Year still echo through the bitter cold and dark mornings. You’re still trying to kick that sluggish feeling ahead of spring and summer, see-sawing between dragging yourself to the gym or laying on the sofa eternally napping between TV binge watches.
The solution? A microgap — an opportunity to take some time for yourself, right here in the UK. For a trip where you can learn more and actually get hands on with an experience, pizza foraging is the best place to start.
Gartur Stitch Farm Grab your tartan bonnet and scarf, and voyage to Gartur Stitch Farm, the purveyors of a foraging and pizza walk experience that’ll help you connect with the outdoors, fresh ingredients and, naturally, a tasty pizza.
Located just 14 miles from Stirling, the farm is at the edge of Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park on the historic Cardross Estate — a real slice of the wondrous and enchanting Scottish landscape.
Once you get there, there’ll be no hanging about. With an expert forager on hand, you’ll be escorted into the woods and surrounding fields to explore all the seasonal Scottish wild food that may end up on your pizza and, later, in your belly.
Gartur Stitch Farm/Chris WattThe walk begins down a hedgerow, looking for all its seasonal fruits, like sloes, blackberries, cherries, yarrow, hogweed, plantain and rosehips. If you didn’t know it already, this isn’t going to be your average pizza.
You’ll then be taken into the forest, on the lookout for mushrooms (No, not that kind!). Thankfully, the guides on this foraging expedition will make sure you’re only picking edible mushrooms — you don’t want to end up devouring a mushroom you’re not supposed to eat!
Gartur Stitch Farm As you journey through the farm grounds and woods, picking a range of nutritious, fresh ingredients, you’ll also learn more about the art, history, law and benefits of foraging in Scotland.
The final stop on your foraging tour will be the farm’s herb garden, where you can pick out even more flavours to top off your out-of-the-ordinary pizza.
Gartur Stitch Farm/Chris WattThe very last part of the experience is the real tummy rumbler, putting all the tasty tidbits you’ve collected onto a delicious, wood-fired sourdough pizza. All that’s left to do is tuck in!
Gartur Stitch Farm Brisk Scottish air, the freshest ingredients, socialising with fellow foodies and, above all, a prime opportunity to cleanse your soul. What could be better?
The foraging and pizza walk can be booked here.
After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.