Windows of Fungi Town
As Hay is transformed into the UK’s first ever Fungi Town, local shops will be dressing for the occasion. Take a tour of the town’s shop windows and choose your favourite display. People's choice votes can be made at Oil & Oak (deliver to the GIANT mushroom).
You can also collect the letters on your journey, find them all and decipher the mushroom name and be entered into our prize draw for a chance to win an epic fungi award. Trail Maps can be found at Oil & Oak, Hay Castle and Londis, completed maps can be given in at Oil & Oak, deliver to the GIANT mushroom.
Shops involved include: Addymans Books - Baka Bakery - Bartrums - Dugans - Gay-on-Wye - Golesworthys - Hay-on-Wye Booksellers - Bohemian Folk - Hay Deli- Londis - North Books - Oil & Oak - The Wobbly Owl and many more!
Friday Foray
Join seasoned guide, Head of Nature at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, and self-declared ‘mushroom tickler’ Dan Ryan, for a family-friendly fungi hunt through the hills above Hay. Whether you’re a curious beginner or experienced mycologist, all are welcome.
Dress for the weather, wear sturdy boots and, if you have them, bring a basket, small containers, penknife and hand lens.
The forage will be walking down to the Warren in Hay.
NB: This isn't a forage for food, but a chance to get a closer look at Hay's rich fungal diversity, and collect specimens to display in the castle.
Tickets £5 through Hay Castle website
Churchyard Fungal Foray
Join Tim Kaye from Cultivating Learning and Nature for a fungal exploration of Dorstone’s churchyard. Discover how important fungi are, find and identify as many types as possible, and play a game of Fungo!
This activity is part of the Dorstone Settlement Timeline project, based at St Faith's Church Dorstone, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
St Faith's Church, Dorstone, Hereford HR3 6AW (10am-1pm)
Free - drop in
Mushroom printmaking with Yuli Gates
Join artist and printmaker Yuli Gates for a hands-on introduction to the art of lino printmaking, with a mushroom twist. In this workshop, you’ll learn traditional carving and printing techniques while exploring the fascinating process of creating natural printmaking inks from mushrooms, as detailed in the book and website which Yuli illustrated:
The Mushroom Color Atlas.
https://www.mushroomcoloratlas.com/
Tickets £35 through Hay Castle website
Science Corner
Discover the microscopic world of soil and fungi with Hay Regenerative Soils & Soil Smiths from Soil Ecology Lab. Bring a sample from your compost heap to look at under a microscope, identify fungal hyphae, spores and microorganisms from the soil food web. Learn about the importance of below-ground biodiversity whilst checking if your compost heap is active. Encouragement to draw what you see, feel & talk about whilst looking down the microscope to be a part of an ongoing community exhibition of soils & fungi.
Taking place in the Great Hall all weekend between 10am and 4pm
Fungal Rummage
Come and see, smell and touch some of the incredible mushrooms, toadstools and lichens growing wild around Hay. Bring in unusual fungi and see if our team of experts and enthusiasts can identify them.
FREE
Mushroom Gardening Workshop
Join Jassy Drakulic and Lorin Von Longo-Liebenstein for an outdoor workshop on Hay Castle lawn.
Against popular belief, mushroom growing in gardens does not only work behind the house, tucked away in the shade. There are many ways to include fungi into gardens and even more good reasons to do so. Fungi play an incredibly important role in most ecosystems and including them in your garden can bring a variety of benefits to your green space that go beyond a delicious harvest.
Tickets £10 through Hay Castle website
Fungal Poetry Workshop
How can fungi shape the way we write poetry? Join mycologist and poet Nathan Smith for an introduction to fungally-informed poetic structures and practices.
Poetry Bookshop, The Pavement, Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5BU
Saturday 3 October, 6-7pm
mushrooming for kids
Join Tim Kaye from Cultivating Learning and Nature for a fungi hunt. Whether you’re a curious beginner or experienced mycologist, all are welcome. Dress for the weather, wear sturdy boots and, if you have them, bring a basket, small containers, penknife and hand lens. NB: This isn't a forage for food, but a chance to get a closer look at Hay's rich fungal diversity.
Meet at the Treehouse Cafe on the other side of the Wye.
Tickets from Hay Castle website
Make and Print a Mushroom Pennant
Join Abi from Oil & Oak and have some fun creating your own unique Mushroom Pennant. We’ll use calico and cut out your Pennant before designing your mushroom stamp and printing it onto your pennant. You can add some tassels or fringe too!
Suitable for all abilities, no sewing experience need, all materials provided.
Book on Oil & Oak website: www.oilandoak.co.uk/workshops
Fermentation - Kombucha Workshop
Join local writer and yeast expert Simon Poffley from The Fermentarium for a deep dive into the fizzy, flavoursome world of yeast-based drinks. Learn about the cultural journey of kombucha from Tibet to California, wrap your taste-buds around different yeast-derived items, and create your own kombucha.
Tickets £25 from Hay Castle website
Puff Ball Parade
Fungi Town invites everyone to join our joyful closing ceremony, the family-friendly Puff Ball parade. Wonderbrass, Wales’s biggest fun-loving community brass band, will lead the parade, from the Market Square to the Castle lawn, bringing the outdoor party with a mixture of jazz, pop, ska, funk and fun. We'd love to see some fungi fancy dress or just come as yourself and get in the fungi-groove to red hot interpretation of songs you know and love. Remember mushrooms dance best in the rain!
Make A Mushroom Patch
Join Abi from Oil & Oak and have some fun creating your own unique Mushroom Patch. Using fabric as collage, basic hand sewing techniques and fabric paint you’ll create a patch of dreams.
Suitable for all abilities, no sewing experience need, all materials provided.
Book on Oil & Oak website: www.oilandoak.co.uk/workshops
Pickling and Preserving Workshop
Join local author and forager Liz Knight from Forage Fine Foods on a masterclass to help you preserve and pickle seasonal food - including mushrooms!
Booking: Email tim@clan-cic.org
Mushroom Printing Workshop
Join artist and printmaker Yuli Gates for a hands-on introduction to the art of lino printmaking — with a twist. In this workshop, you’ll learn traditional carving and printing techniques while exploring the fascinating process of creating natural printmaing inks from mushrooms, as detailed in the book and website: The Mushroom Color Atlas.
Introduction to Mushroom Cultivation
Join James Scrivens from Coed Talylan for a hands-on workshop exploring simple, low-tech ways to grow your own mushrooms at home or in the garden. Together we’ll make cardboard spawn and learn how to cultivate oyster mushrooms – one of the easiest and most rewarding varieties to start with. Whether you’re curious about fungi, keen to grow your own food, or just want to get your hands on a practical skill, this session offers an accessible introduction to the world of mushroom cultivation.
Free Event - 10 places
Fungal Rummage
Come and see, smell and touch some of the incredible mushrooms, toadstools and lichens growing wild around Hay. Bring in unusual fungi and see if our team of experts and enthusiasts can identify them.
FREE
Introduction to Mycelium Materials – Hands-On Workshop
Curious about fungi and the future of sustainable design? Join us for a hands-on Introduction to Mycelium Materials workshop, where you’ll learn the basics of working with living fungal composites. Over 90 minutes, you’ll cast a small object using mycelium—the root-like structure of fungi—which you’ll take home to incubate and finish growing.
No experience or equipment is needed—just bring yourself and a sense of curiosity! All materials are provided.
Fungal Emporium
Find the perfect gift for the mushroom lover in your life in Hay Castle’s pop-up fungal emporium.
Mushroom Caricatures
Ever wondered what you would look like as a cartoon mushroom? This is your chance to find out. Monsieur Champignon will be interpreting you as your favourite fungus.
Find Monsieur Champignon in the Castle on Saturday
Open Mic - Mushroom Edition
Your chance to take to the stage and show your talent with fungi-inspired music and poetry.
Mushroom Madness Trivia Night
A quiz night sprouting with silliness! No need to be a mushroom expert - just bring your friends, your best guesses, and a sense of humour. It’s all for a good cause: entry is by donation (suggested £5), with every penny raised going to Hay Regenerative Soils CIC, helping create a carbon-neutral, community-led food system for Hay-on-Wye.
This event takes place at The Globe in Newport Street
Fungi Town Foray
Join seasoned guide, Head of Nature at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, and self-declared ‘mushroom tickler’ Dan Ryan, for a family-friendly fungi hunt through the hills above Hay. Whether you’re a curious beginner or experienced mycologist, all are welcome.
Dress for the weather, wear sturdy boots and, if you have them, bring a basket, small containers, penknife and hand lens.
NB: This isn't a forage for food, but a chance to get a closer look at Hay's rich fungal diversity, and collect specimens to display in the castle.
Meet in Oxford Road Car park for 11:30 departure
