Vegetable Gardening with Julia Parker will cover all aspects of what to plant now for both a late autumn harvest and planning ahead for Spring and Summer next year.
Including herbs, vegetables and flowers, Julia will give advice and demonstrations of what and how to plant and where.
Having worked with Alitex Greenhouses giving online tutorials throughout lockdown, running her own vegetable garden design business and having co-authored a gardening & cookery book for children, Julia is confident, enthusiastic and wonderfully encouraging to the novice and green fingered gardener alike.
So, if you, like us were tempted by tomato growing, basil breeding or potato picking during our long summer at home, come and learn the top tips and insider guide as to how to make your plot (even more) productive!
This workshop will take place outside, under cover, safely and socially distanced. There will be access to toilets, hand sanitiser and masks will be available, if required.
Includes homemade refreshments and goody bag.
This course accommodates 8 people.
Find out more about Julia Parker and the other workshop leaders.
Learn to craft your own drum lampshade, suitable for either a table or ceiling light, with Katrina de Toney of Lampshade Parade.
During this course you will learn how to make your very own 30cm drum lampshade to take home with you. All the tips and skills that you acquire on the day will enable you to confidently recreate the steps at home to make more lampshades as and when you wish.
Please bring your own choice of fabric, 100cm x 40cm, all other materials and equipment will be provided.
The course is suitable for complete beginners as all steps will be carefully explained and demonstrated, along with all the short cuts, finer techniques and advice that will take your lampshade from amateur to professional!
This course accommodates 8 people.
Find out more about Katrina de Toney and the other workshop leaders.
In this workshop you will discover how to take fabulous photos with your smartphone.
We all walk round with a camera in our pocket these days and imagery is everywhere, so join us to discover how to stand out from the crowd and get the best from your phone.
The workshop will include taking photos, how to enhance them, lighting and composition as well as external apps and discussion about what you do with your photos afterwards.
This workshop would be perfect for business owners and those bloggers who use Instagram and Pinterest etc to promote their business as well as the casual photographer.
Jenny Kaye is a professional photographer and will share her hints and tips for creating stunning imagery.
This course accommodates 10 people.
Find out more about Jenny Kaye and the other workshop leaders.
In this 3hr seasonal workshop you will be guided step by step, by Jay Nolan-Latchford, to create two beautiful pieces of art.
Midnight Sky is a gorgeous layered watercolour in shades of blue and Winter Deer is painted using inks and detailed with gold powder for a lovely sheen
Jay is a professional illustrator and award-winning tutor. She has worked as a freelance artist and also established her own design company which specialised in greetings cards and gift wrap, where her clients included, Harrods, Fortnum and Mason, Selfridges and John Lewis.
Her popular classes are a wonderful way to learn to paint in a relaxed atmosphere with like-minded people.
This class is suitable for beginners upwards, there will be demonstrations and plenty of time for one to one guidance.
All of your materials and equipment will be provided as well as refreshments.
You’ll take home two completed pieces which can be photographed and used to print your personal Christmas Cards.
This course accommodates 8 people.
Find out more about Jay Nolan-Latchford and the other workshop leaders.
Learn the importance of the psychology of colour and how it affects our decorating choices.
Charlotte Reynolds, from Studio Portobello, will start the morning with a presentation showing how you can introduce and incorporate colour, pattern and texture to ultimately enhance your interiors and to ensure happy and harmonious living.
This is followed by questions and a general discussion session and ends with a hands on practical workshop where you can explore mood boarding.
During your workshop, Hayley Farrelly, from Bramley Pottery, will take you through the process of making two beautiful slab-built jugs with a patterned exterior and handle.
Once your jugs have dried she will fire them in her kiln and then glaze them for you in a celadon colour of your choice.
These gorgeous jugs are multi-purpose; the glaze is food safe so can be used for serving milk or cream or use them as vases with a posy of flowers.
The pottery journey takes time, so expect to wait up to a month after the workshop to receive your pieces as this will allow time for them to dry, to be bisque fired, glazed and re-fired.
Once finished they can be collected from her studio in Ballinger, or they can be sent in the post.
Make sure you bring an apron and messy clothing to the workshop, Hayley will provide all the tools you need to make your pottery.
This course accommodates 10 people.
Find out more about Hayley Farrelly and the other workshop leaders.
Perhaps you have an event coming up or just want to learn a new and uncommon skill, this is a fantastic opportunity to create a beautiful hairpiece for yourself using millinery techniques.
Ellie Vandenbrekel of Ellie Vandenbrekel Millinery will take you through the process of designing and creating your very own, beautifully stylish headband, similar to the one pictured but of your own composition. Ellie has been working in millinery for 15 years, opening her own studio in 2016. She recently spent a year developing her craft in the Katherine Elizabeth Millinery Academy.
During this session you will be learning to work with silk abaca and how to create different shapes with this luxury millinery fabric which will adorn a padded velvet headband.
Pre-order your chosen velvet headband and abaca colours from the options provided. Beads, pearls and crystals in a wide array of colours will be available on the day.
Sewing skills are essential, as couture millinery is always sewn by hand. All materials will be provided (including a box to take your finished masterpiece home with you) but you may wish to bring an apron to protect your clothes
This course accommodates 8 people.
Find out more about Ellie Vandenbrekel and the other workshop leaders.
Join local Bucks based tea experts Mark & Giles, the spoons behind Two Spoons Tea Ltd (named after the tools of their trade, their tasting spoons!) to discover the story of tea from bush to cup.
They have over 50 years of combined expertise as professional tea tasters, have travelled extensively in the wonderful world of tea to hone their craft and tasted more than a million cups between them!
The masterclass is interactive (tea tasting will be involved!), informative and fun.
Do you know just what goes into your daily cuppa? Hear the stories, passion and expertise behind our daily brew – the second most popular beverage in the world after water.
You’ll also get to make your very own blend to take home.
This course accommodates 10 people.
Find out more about Giles Oakley, Mark Lawson and the other workshop leaders.
Have you ever wondered how to create a gorgeous arrangement from the everyday supermarket flowers that you pick up with your bread and milk? Or perhaps you have an abundance of lovingly home grown flowers picked from your garden, but are at a loss as to how best to display them?
Gill Booker is an award winning, City and Guilds trained florist who will demonstrate how you can transform the cellophane wrapped bunch of nondescript flowers that are your weekly supermarket purchase into a truly stunning hand tied arrangement, ready to be displayed in your own vase.
Spend the morning with Gill as she demonstrates two different approaches to hand tied arrangements. All flowers and foliage will be provided along with coffee and homemade cake on arrival and a goody bag to take home along with your two finished bouquets.
This would make the perfect Mothers Day present, book your Mum onto the course or come along together to make her the best personalised bouquet as her gift for Mothering Sunday.
This course accommodates 8 people.
Find out more about Gill Booker and the other workshop leaders.
Wendy
I had such a good time today. Thank you so much.
Although Julia is clearly a very talented lady she makes gardening sound so effortless and I loved her ‘ have a go’ attitude. Very inspiring.
Debbie
Thank you so much for this morning, I really enjoyed myself. You had put so much thought into getting everything to be COVID compliment, which I’m sure is all extra work.
Julia I thought ran the course brilliantly, she was so informative and helpful, even to a complete novice like myself. I’m really looking forward to putting into practice all of the things we covered.
Norma
Thank you very much indeed for the wonderful morning. It was so enjoyable and inspiring!
Julia was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic, it was impossible to leave without feeling ready to learn more about gardening and growing edible things.
You were the perfect host as always and made us feel so welcome. Your coffee and cakes were such a treat. It was very kind of you to copy the recipe for the delicious Raspberry and Pine-nut Bars – I will definitely have a go at making them! Kit was great company too and his ginger plant was amazing!