Dates for the 2025 programme of workshops will be released in November.
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2024 Workshops
The Regenerative Edible Garden
with Alison Jenkins
Friday 12 July 2024 Sold Out
Friday 6 September 2024
The regenerative edible garden looks a little different to a conventional vegetable garden. It’s a bit wilder, looser and soft around the edges. There are fewer straight lines, a lot of flowers and and plenty of unusual, perennial and ornamental edible plants. It’s teeming with life and energy, as insects and birds flit about and nutrient dense food thrives in soil rich with an active ecosystem of microbiology.
Spend the day exploring what makes an edible garden regenerative and come away with some practical ideas about how to apply a regenerative approach to your own garden.
£120.00
For more details click here
Creating a Cutting Garden
with Becky Crowley
Friday 15 March 2024 Sold Out
Saturday 16 March 2024 Sold Out
Learn how to plan and grow your own ornamental cutting garden, with cut flower grower, designer and artist Becky Crowley.
Drawing on her experience at Chatsworth House and at Floret Flower Farm, Becky will go through her process for planning a cutting garden to achieve a succession of flowers throughout the year.
£120.00
For more details click here
Permaculture
An introduction to an ecological design system
with Hamish Evans
Friday 22 March 2024
Permaculture is inspired by the inherently sustainable ecosystems of the natural world. It’s principles are often applied to gardening and agriculture but it’s a very broad approach encompassing ethics and social values and can be used as a design for life.
Hamish Evans, of Middle Ground Growers who run a new permaculture inspired market garden in Bath, will give you an introduction to permaculture and look at how these principles might be applied to your own garden.
£100.00
For more details click here
Illustration by Sara Botero
Korean Natural Farming
with Joshua Sparkes
Friday 5 April 2024 Sold Out
Joshua Sparkes was introduced to the concept of natural farming during his fellowship studies in Japan and has since been experimenting with different ways to nurture the soil and the life within it using low cost, natural methods.
In this workshop we will explore this approach of regenerating soil by creating our own fertilisers and plant medicine using materials we can grow ourselves. You will brew your own concoctions such as fermented plant juice to boost your soil biology and your plants’ natural defence systems and learn how to apply these at the optimum stage of your plants’ development.
£120.00
For more details click here.
Polyculture
A holistic approach to edible gardening.
with Alys Fowler
Friday 17 May 2024 Sold Out
This workshop will take an in-depth look at polyculture growing system for productive gardens. Taking a cue from nature, where plants don’t grow in straight lines, the intention with polyculture is to mimic how plants grow in the wild, in intermingled, diverse communities, which are resilient and require fewer resources to maintain
Alys has long been committed to practising polyculture, as explored in her book The Edible Garden, published in 2010, and her more recent book Eat What You Grow, 2021.
£120.00
For more details click here.
Photo: Roo Lewis
Regenerative Gardening
with Jo McKerr and Alison Jenkins
Friday 7 June 2024 Sold Out
An approach to gardening and landscape management that takes it’s cues from the natural world may be described by a number of terms; ecological, sustainable, biodynamic, organic, re-wilding, permaculture and nature led are just a few. We will start the day unpicking what these terms really mean and how you might apply them in your own garden.
We’ll move on to look at Alison’s garden at Damson Farm and then after lunch visit Jo’s garden in Wellow to explore how different site conditions inspire different regenerative management styles.
£120.00
For more details click here.
Edible Ecosystems
How to create forest gardens and edible meadows
with Sid Hill Sold Out
Friday 21 June 2024
Fusing ethnobotany, permaculture and landscape design this workshop explores edible ecosystems and how we might design and manage them in our own gardens and landscapes.
Sid Hill is an ecological designer based in Cornwall whose passion is to create landscapes and plantings that echo wild plant communities, meadows, woodlands and wetlands, whilst producing food, restoring environments and improving peoples lives. He has a particular interest in creating forest gardens and edible meadows.
Ecological understanding will be built from the beginning, weaving stories and practical techniques so learning is accessible and applicable in any garden or landscape. Suitable for home gardeners or professionals alike.
£120.00
For more details click here
Planting Design
An ecological approach to creating resilient, dynamic planting schemes which flourish over time
with Chris Marchant
Friday 28 June 2024
Saturday 29 June 2024
What can we learn by observing plant ecology to predict how a planting design will change or endure over time? How can we celebrate and enjoy the dynamic behaviour of plants whilst still maintaining the integrity, balance and vision of the original design?
In this one day workshop, Chris Marchant will draw on her experience of having worked closely with planting designers for over 30 years, providing advice on the best selections and combinations of herbaceous plants to achieve beautiful, enduring designed plant communities.
£120.00
For more details click here
Garden Photography
with Eva Nemeth
Friday 5 July 2024
Friday 11 October 2024
Saturday 12 October 2024
This workshop presents an opportunity to work closely alongside Eva in a small group to gain an insight into her working methods. She will give each participant some one to one time so that the day can be tailored to suit wherever you are on your photographic journey, whether you are just starting out with your DSLR or having been using it for years but would like to try a fresh approach.
£150.00
For more details click here
Bulbs - Inspired by Nature
A study day on sustainable planting with bulbs
with Hannah Gardner
Friday 13 September 2024
How can we adopt a more sustainable approach to using bulbs in the garden? Inspired by her travels, Hannah will show how an understanding of where bulbs originate in the wild and how they function and reproduce is the key to achieving long lasting displays which don’t need to be replaced or replenished each year.
£120.00
For more details click here
Drying Flowers
and Autumn Wreath
with Bex Partridge of Botanical Tales
Friday 4 October 2024
Bex will spend the morning explaining how to dry a wide range of different plants. She will then demonstrate how to make a beautiful autumn wreath in the afternoon. She will explain the methods she uses to ensure that her work is as sustainable as possible. There will be armfuls of Bex’s own grown flowers for you to work with and you will also be able to forage for additional material in the garden at Damson Farm.
£130.00
For more details click here.
Unusual and Ornamental Edibles
with Chris Smith of Pennard Plants
Friday 18 October 2024
The art of growing a beautiful garden that also happens to be edible. We will explore unusual varieties you may not have come across before as well as more common plants which you may not have realised are edible. Tastings included!
£120.00
For more details click here.
Leaf Printing
with Allie Sylvester
Thursday 24 October 2024 Sold Out
Saturday 26 October 2024
Gather foliage from the garden and learn this simple but addictive technique for creating finely detailed botanical works of art.
£120.00
For more details click here.
Experimental Drawing
with Allie Sylvester
Friday 25 October 2024
A day to play, experiment and doodle with a variety of different techniques and materials. Allie will introduce you to her own unique approach to exquisitely detailed drawing and the different methods she turns to when she gets creative block and needs to loosen up.
£120.00
For more details click here.
Biodynamics
with Robin Snowdon of Limeburn Hill Vineyard
Friday 15 November 2024
Biodynamics is a holistic approach which considers the land as having a spirit – the spirit of place. It offers a way of working which creates a deeper connection to the land.
This workshop will introduce you to the history and key principles of biodynamics, as well as straight forward, practical ways in which this nourishing and healthful approach to growing can be applied directly to your own land.
£120.00
For more details click here