July Wild Year Calendar

Amazingly we’ve arrived in July, which is half way through our year and our summer! The days are long and it’s good ole fashioned British festival season with some corkers on the horizon. Our top two favourites for July, due to their wild and leafy settings are: Womad (World of Music and Dance) at the end of July set on a large private estate called Charlton Park in Wiltshire. http://womad.co.uk/  It houses within the festival grounds a beautiful arboretum where the healing and therapists work their magic and is a must-visit part of the festival.

Then there’s the equally amazing Port Eliot Literary festival also at the end of July in Cornwall, on the stunning Port Eliot private estate http://porteliotfestival.com/ There are even paintings inside the ‘round room’ by Robert Lenkiewicz that may be viewed as part of the festival entry.  

Our easily identifiable wild edible plants in July are: wild strawberries – wild cherries – wild rose – limeflowers – chickweed – yarrow – meadowsweet – wood sorrel -fennel and the last of the elderflowers. Check out our July wild recipe for meadowsweet cordial – we think it’s even more delicious than elderflower cordial!

And our July flower is the delectable and fragrant honeysuckle. Traditionally in herbal medicine the flowers were made into a syrup and used to help alleviate asthma and respiratory conditions. The flower is known as the ‘love bind’ which by some has come to be associated with a lovers embrace, symbolised by the flower’s tendency to cling to trees, hedges and walls as it grows. The aroma of the flowers was also thought to induce dreams of love and a sprig of its bloom if bought into a house is believed to bring a wedding in the household within the year!