nature gathering

The nature gathering is designed to combine botanical creativity with learning about gardening and growing flowers in a wilder way with a lighter touch. The aim is for you to immerse yourself in my garden over four seasons, to enhance your connection to nature and to learn more about how to grow and garden with a wilder intent. We will use foraged and grown ingredients to develop your creativity and enhance your nature connection using different creative techniques. It’s a fabulous way to connect with like minded souls, to connect with the seasons and nature, to transform your relationship with your outside space, to play and learn in a relaxed, beautiful environment.

What does it include?

We will meet every 2 months, starting in February and ending in December, so 6 gatherings in total. Each time we meet we will have a session in the morning on creating a garden and growing flowers with a wilder aesthetic and habitat creation in mind. Three of the morning sessions will be led by Guy Petheram, a garden designer specialising in naturalistic and wildlife friendly gardens, who helped me create my therapy garden and habitat friendly cutting garden. The other gardening sessions will be led by me, focussing on growing cut flowers.

In the afternoons, each time we meet, we will use seasonal ingredients to create something beautiful, using floristry techniques such as hand-tied bouquets and beautiful undone urns, and other techniques such as botanical printing, bark rubbings and tataki zome - the Japanese art of flower pounding. In our final December session we will make Christmas wreaths together and celebrate the end of our seasonal journey. Keeping the group small means that we can focus on you, your creativity and intentions for your outside space, to form a close knit and supportive group of nature loving people.

The Practical Stuff

The gatherings are hosted in my floral haven in the walled kitchen garden at Doddington Hall and the timings are 10am - 4.30pm. All flowers, vessels, art materials are provided and you will of course take your creations away with you, as well as seeds and plants propagated from my garden. A delicious lunch and refreshments are provided and the maximum number of guests for these sessions is 4 people.

The investment is £1,215 and payment can be made either in one payment or across three instalments.

The dates for 2026 are: 18th February, 22nd April, 17th June, 19th August, 14th October, 16th December.