A nut in the hand is worth two in the bush

During the early hours of August 19th I awoke to the sound of light rain and just couldn’t get back to sleep. It seemed to take ages before there was a proper fall, enough to exercise the gutters and trickle down.

Later that morning I walked on Castle Hill with the dogs in glorious sunshine – glorious because it wasn’t burning hot and glorious because everything was mercifully damp. The dogs sniffed. We meandered slowly across the wide expanse and I watched colours changing like time-lapse photography, the grass seeming to be greening infront of my eyes.

In Trinity we stopped. A nut tree was planted here in 2022 as part of the Queens Green Canopy, to mark the Platinum Jubilee of our late Ma’am. You can see it at the Church Walk end of this lovely space a minute off the High Street, nestled in a corner where two avenues of lime trees meet. There’s a plaque. This year, for the first time, it’s yielded a crop.

The nut tree in question is a filbert, which is a type of hazel. Hazels are common. You can tell it’s the filbert version because the husk which holds the nut extends over the shell and almost completely envelops it. Like a ‘full beard’. And they’re lovely to eat although, at this time of year, not fully ripe. But I start my nut harvesting early for two reasons.

One, the squirrels haven’t got to them yet and, two, the shells aren’t quite as hard as they’ll be in, say, a month. So (only) if you’ve got strong teeth you can crack them open in your mouth. I picked a pocketful and we moseyed on. If anyone had been tracking me then it’d have been easy – just follow the trail of broken shells.

Another great place to forage filberts is Salisbury Street Green. Honestly folks, this is natural and healthy food for free. There are loads of things you can do with hazelnuts. We’ve got a 1977 Readers Digest book called Food From Your Garden and there’s some good ideas in there. For me, though, the pleasure is bending a branch, tugging a cluster, unsheathing then busting a nut and extracting the kernel to eat as nature intended. They store without any hassle if left unopened in a bowl. We were eating last seasons Salisbury Street filberts throughout winter into spring and early summer.

Shaftesbury Orchard Town is about more than apples. And just as well, because after a top fruit bonanza last year, not quite so good this. But opportunities abound. Why not grab a crooked stick, gather friends and/or family, and go nutting this evening or weekend?

More information about hazel trees, including how to accurately identify them, have a look here: Woodland Trust | a-z-of-british-trees | Hazel

News story by Joe Hashman – Aug 2026

Enquiries to Shaftesbury Orchard Town can be made via Shaftesbury Tree Group at planetshaftesbury@gmail.com or visit the website planetshaftesbury.org