A Note on Safety & Responsibility

Before you dive into these resources, please remember: Foraging is a skill, not a hobby to be taken lightly. While the books and websites listed below are the exact ones I use and trust, they are meant to supplement—not replace—careful observation and experience. Never consume anything from the wild unless you are 100% certain of its identity. Cross-reference every find with at least three reliable sources, and if you are ever in doubt, leave it out.

I share these tools to help you connect with nature, but your safety is ultimately your own responsibility.

My Vanlife and Foraging Resources

I regularly get asked about the gear I use to live full-time on the road and the books I use to stay safe in the woods.
To make things easy, I’ve pulled everything together in one place. These are the tools and resources I genuinely rely on every single day.

1. Foraging & Nature References

• The Collins Gem: Mushrooms: My ‘bible’ for mushroom ID. It fits in a pocket and is the first thing I grab before heading into the trees. It’s also incredibly cheap which makes this affordable for all.
• Wild Food by Roger Phillips: A classic for any forager’s shelf. The photography is excellent for cross-referencing.
• WildFoodUK Website: One of the best online resources for UK-specific foraging. Marlow is full of knowledge and is great at sharing easy-to-understand information.

2. Vanlife Essentials (The Build & Beyond)

• Electrical Setup: I rely mostly on Renorgy parts for my solar setup, and I pruchased my solar panels from craigsolar.co.uk. I use AGM leisure batteries to keep my design business running from the woods, I sourced these from AdvancedBatterySupplies.
• Heating: The Chinese diesel heaters you find on eBay are a fantastic budget way of heating a van and have kept me warm many a cold night in the highlands.
• Connectivity: My Huawei mobile router and GiffGaff Sim card are what allow me to work remotely as a graphic designer. £20 gets me 100GB a month.

3. The Camp Kitchen

• Fire pit: I always have a fire pit on me so that I don’t make fire scars on the ground when I want to cook outside.
• Cast Iron Skillet: Heavy, but worth it for cooking over a campfire or on the van stove. Much healthier and safer than a non-stick-pan as these are not designed for the high temperatures of a campfire.
• Fire Stick: ” love to use a ferro rod to start a fire, it impreses friends and keeps my bushcraft skills up to scratch.

4. Digital Tools for Nomads

• Park4Night: My go-to app for finding quiet spots, though I always cross-reference with satellite views!
• SearchForSites: “Great for finding actual campsites and water refill points in the UK.”
• metofficeweather.metoffice.gov.uk: My most trusted weather forecaster—knowing which way the wind is blowing helps me choose a sheltered parkup and if we’re due lots of rain I can plan accordingly.