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Spring is the season of new life - delicious new life!

And it's not just our fields, woods and hedgerows that are bursting with fresh, seasonal ingredients.

If you're a city dweller your local park can be your local larder.

I headed into one of Newcastle's urban green areas with chef and foraging expert Martin Charlton... and came home with a happy full tum.

Martin finds some mushrooms

Wild garlic pesto

The first thing to catch Martin's eye - or rather nose - was wild garlic.

Banks of slender, pungent leaves topped with frothy white flowers are a regular spring treat, and can be used as a direct substitute for shop-bought garlic. Ours would be used to make a wild garlic pesto for wild garlic bread. Good start!

Nettles are rated as weeds by most gardeners but, if you're in the know, they make a fantastic lime green soup. Brim-full of vitamins, minerals and protein, nettles can also be added to fresh pasta and dumplings.

And if you struggle to control ground elder in your garden or allotment, why not leave a clump or two for eating - it really does taste great.

After our trip Martin whipped up a wonderful Eggs Florentine using ground elder instead of traditional spinach.

Mushrooms

Next our attention turned to mushrooms. I thought they were an autumn find, but some species are available throughout the year.

The wood ear is one - strange, brown, cup-shaped fungi, they don't look immediately appetising, but are used widely in Chinese cookery and have a great texture.

Our real prize today, though, was a secret hoard of St George's mushrooms. These look more like a traditional mushroom, have a delicate pale cream colour and are quite big too - a feast for the eye as well as the stomach.

Martin thought they'd be good cooked up with butter, wild garlic and ground elder, then topped with wild salmon. I certainly wasn't going to argue!

Last but not least, spring blooms make good eating, and we were lucky enough to find a stand of primrose.

Trai tests the nettle soup

Just a couple of blooms (leaving plenty for others to admire), along with dandelion and wild garlic flowers made a delicate salad bouquet, to which we added more wild garlic and ground elder leaves. Toss in some shredded local kipper and a simple dressing for a seasonal salad with substance and style.

Be careful

Please remember with all wild plants, and especially fungi, only to pick and eat what you are confident is safe – many varieties are dangerous even though they look like the safe species.

Check with a recognised book, such as Richard Mabey's Food for Free, or join an organised foraging trip.