WHO fancies dinner? You’ll have to get on your boots and get out in to the Dorset countryside, then.

The county has been named as one of the UK’s foraging hot-spots.

And to celebrate, foraging expert Caroline Davey has come up with a recipe using ingredients that can be found in the county.

She says more of us should get out into the wild and pick the produce nature has to offer.

Caroline said: “Start with species that are easy to identify like elderflowers, nettles and blackberries and once you have created some great things to eat you can build up the confidence to move onto slightly more unusual things.

“Only pick things you have a 100 per cent positive identification for. There are plants and fungi out there that can kill you so it’s important that you don’t take any chances. Buy yourself a wild flower identification guide and keep it in your bag or car so that wherever you go you can start to identify plants. The hardest part of foraging is plant identification and it takes practice and repetition to get it right.”

What about those of us who are pushed for time? Surely a dash to the local supermarket is a lot easier.

“Start foraging in your own back yard,” said Caroline.

“You don’t have to travel miles to forage; you will find edible plants on your street, in your garden and in your local park.

“But follow a responsible foraging code. Only take very common plants such as nettles and sorrel so that you won’t be responsible for depleting plant stocks. Don’t take the whole plant, but leave more than half of it to grow back. Do not trespass to forage for wild food.”

The Dorset coastline is a particularly good patch; low tides mean you can forage far in to the reeds and exposed rocks hide all sorts of edible shellfish and seaweed.

“Chesil beach is a good place to go foraging and here you can discover sea campion, sea beet, sea radish and wild carrot,” said Caroline.

“Kingcombe Meadows’ nature reserve is one of the best places in the country, with many edible fungi including rare wax caps.”

The trend for foraged food continues, with many restaurants now making foraged food the focus of the menu, such as The Casterbridge, Dorchester, and the The Green Restaurant, Sherborne.