Biography
I fell in love with both plants and writing from an early age, at about 8 years old. The first plant I fell in love with was chickweed, it had magically appeared on disturbed soil in our garden whilst we had been away. The way the dappled evening light hit it enhanced its beauty and I’ve been mesmerized by plants ever since.
I've been lucky enough to sustain a career in foraging ever since. Writing for 4 out of the 5 big publishing houses, (and being offered a contract by the 5th).
My work is as varied as my interests and I consider every job for its own merits. I've matched wild cocktails with cheese, ran community events for isolated people, ID trees for friends of park groups, foraged and dined with hollywood and rock stars, consulted for TV, delivered talks to a huge variety of people including university students, cruise ships inmates and the womens institute.
I'm most well known for Booze for Free. I've also written about fermenting, beer and selfsufficiency. I've written a beginers guide to foraging for the National Trust called The First Time Forager and my first non-fiction narrative a nature memoir meets lifestyle guide, New Wild Order, is due to be released in Feb 2025. John Wright said about it -
In his eye-wateringly forthright and highly readable book, Andy Hamilton takes our joyful (if neglected) instinct for foraging as a cue and explores both instinctive and traditional ways by which might reclaim our relationship with the natural world, the natural life, and find peace every day.'
John Wright, author of the River Cottage Hedgerow Handbook
