Foraging, art and history in the Kent Downs

Nature and tales of the past are brought to life along the North Downs Way and around Canterbury by new projects engaging visitors with local knowledge and ages-old skills

Ear pressed to the pale bark, I listen. It’s March, the month when the sap of the silver birch rises. “You can hear it,” says Lucia as I close my eyes to concentrate. “It’s a gurgling, the tree’s lifeblood.”

Sadly, I hear nothing apart from a low traffic hum and Lucia rummaging in her basket. She produces a bottle of birch sap tonic that she’s made earlier. I take a sip. Refreshing. “Good with vodka,” Lucia notes.