Over 82% Sold Out · Book Your Place
Sat 14 Nov 2026 Hickstead, West Sussex
Speakers 2026
Truffle science, fungal conservation, live truffle cooking and a truffle dog training masterclass for beginners. Every talk included with your ticket.
Under 16s go free · Dogs welcome
every year
capacity
Google reviews
under 16s
The 2026 Line-Up
Five names worth turning up early for
The talks run through the day on the main stage. A truffle scientist, a fungal ecologist from Kew, a chef cooking with fresh truffle, a truffle dog training masterclass for beginners, and a forager hosting the whole thing.
Every one of them is included with your festival ticket. Nothing extra to book, nothing extra to pay. Sit in on all of it, or drift between the talks tent, the have a go arena and the market as the mood takes you.
Running order and stage times confirmed closer to the day.
Mycorrhizal Systems
Prof. Paul Thomas
The latest truffle science
Prof. Paul Thomas is one of the leading truffle scientists in the world, and one of the few who can make truffle biology feel like a story. He founded Mycorrhizal Systems, is Chief Scientist at the American Truffle Company and an Honorary Professor at the University of Stirling. In 2015 his cultivation work produced the UK’s first cultivated summer truffle, and the first cultivated Périgord black truffle followed a few years later.
He also founded the National Truffle Centre on the Isle of Bute, an orchard-based hub for research and training.
Prof. Paul Thomas comes back each year with something new, and it is genuinely new each time. Expect the latest from his research and from the orchards he works with, and what it means for growers and food lovers alike. His talk title will be confirmed closer to the day.
Photo: Sebastian Kettley © RBG Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Imperial College London
David Satori
A foray through the world of fungal conservation
David has spent his career trying to understand fungi from every angle he can find, and to move them from the margins of ecology into the centre of rewilding. He is a PhD researcher studying the mycorrhizal fungi of Britain’s temperate rainforests, and what his findings mean for their conservation.
His current work is on the underground mycorrhizal fungi that live in partnership with tree roots, truffles among them. For nearly a decade he has been held by one idea. That hidden world governs much of the ecology we see above ground, and it is still one of the least understood parts of the natural world.
His talk casts wider than truffles. It travels through the lives and relationships of some of our most remarkable fungi. Some species are extraordinarily resilient. Taken as a whole, fungi are one of the most imperilled groups of wildlife in the UK. David covers what they do for biodiversity, the trouble they are in, and the genuine promise that rewilding holds for turning that around.
Black Gold Experiences
Hajira Ahmad
A live truffle cooking demo, and her story
Hajira returns to the festival for another year. She is the founder of Black Gold Experiences, a venture that grew out of years of truffle-focused travel in Italy and a partnership with her dog Angelo, who was truffle-trained in Tuscany.
What began as a passion became a craft, and then a career. Hajira hosts intimate truffle supper clubs and dining events, leads personalised truffle adventures, and puts together tailor-made travel that takes guests to the landscapes, producers and traditions behind great truffles. Running through all of it is a commitment to responsible harvesting and sustainability.
On the demo stage she will be cooking with fresh truffle while Tom Radford interviews her, so you get her story and the practical side at the same time. Hunting, tasting and cooking, the sort of thing you can use in your own kitchen the same week.
Black Gold Experiences also produces a small line of artisan truffle products, made in Italy in limited batches with a notably high truffle content to keep the depth of flavour. You will find them at the festival.
Truffle Forager
Ben Sweet
British truffles, then a truffle dog training masterclass for beginners
Ben is a professional truffle dog trainer and co-founder of this festival. He is first on stage, opening the day. The talk comes in two parts.
First, an introduction to British truffles. Which species grow here, the woodland they favour, and the history of truffle hunting in this country, which goes back a great deal further than most people expect.
Then a truffle dog training masterclass for beginners, on getting your own dog finding them. It is built for people starting from nothing, and it gives away the things that make the biggest difference in the first few weeks. It works for almost any dog. As Ben puts it, if your dog can find a tennis ball in long grass, you have a starting point.
One more thing. Somebody in the audience goes home with a fresh truffle. You just have to be in the room.
Eat The Country
Tom Radford
Your compere for the day
Tom is the one keeping the whole thing moving. He is a forager and educator who runs Eat The Country, and he is back again this year as our compere, introducing the speakers, running the arena and keeping several hundred people and a good many dogs roughly to schedule. He is also very funny, which helps more than you would think.
Away from the microphone his work is making wild food accessible. Through his “Death or Dinner” walks, private outings and corporate challenges he teaches seasonal plant identification, safety, and the folklore of Britain’s edible landscapes, usually finishing at the pub or round a fire.
He also shares recipes and how-tos, hosts the Eat The Country podcast, and documents sustainable food and countryside producers across the UK. Whether you have never picked anything wild in your life or you cook with it every week, his instruction is clear and his hedgerow stories are worth the walk on their own.
Included With Every Ticket
Everything on this page comes with your entry
There is no separate charge and no seat to reserve. General admission covers the full speaker programme, the have a go arena, the market and the demo stage.
Under 16s go free · Dogs welcome
Saturday 14th November 2026
Come and Hear Them
Tickets are on sale now, and this festival has sold out every year we have run it.
Get Festival TicketsHickstead, West Sussex · Under 16s go free · Dogs welcome