Jurassic Coast Mushrooms, which already supplies top local restaurants including The Pig on the Beach hotel and the Shell Bay restaurant at Studland in Dorset, is looking to branch out – and may be coming to Swanage Market soon.
Fungus experts, known as mycologists, Andy Knott and Sam Durant are on a mission to cultivate rare native mushrooms, not only for local hospitality businesses but also to reintroduce rare species of fungi into the wild.
Andy and Sam set up a micro mushroom farm called Duck Farm at Tincleton in Dorset in May 2025, cultivating lion's mane and oyster mushrooms, along with lots of different reishi, enoki and other fungi. As well as selling speciality mushrooms to restaurants in Studland, they are also supplying other fine dining establishments like Thirteen in Poole and Yalbury Cottage near Dorchester.
Andy and Sam are regular visiting experts at Carey's Secret Garden near Wareham, and are preparing to hold a second All Things Fungi festival there following the huge success they had with the inaugural event in 2024. But their plans to make mushrooms magical again don't stop there – they are working on creating trees which will grow truffles, on cloning some of Britain's rarest fungi and reintroducing them to woodlands in Purbeck, and even turning them into art gallery exhibits.
Read more at Swanage News